3.30.2009

And now, on to the zoo

It's springtime and zoo time in Rhode Island, so I've moved south from Pawtucket and have begun digging into the history of Roger Williams Park Zoo (where the hopefully fertile Alice awaits another chance at motherhood). Larry, god bless him, furnished me with a lead to the most heartwarming story yet, pachyderm wise.

In 1893, the children of Providence presented a baby elephant to the zoo. It was a little critter and won everyone's heart. Poems were written on the day he was presented there. Songs were sung. Pictures were taken, and a fab time was had by all. How can this not be part of the doc?

On another front, I have an appointment scheduled to talk with Eclipse Neilsen, the sanctuary advocate for Fanny back in 1993 (hmmmmm- a mere one hundred years later) and what's she's told me already is enough to set my ears wiggling. I can hardly wait to meet her.

My posts get a bit shorter these days, because I've been wondering if it's wise to share everything I learn before I've had time to digest it thoroughly myself and put it in context. In other words, are musings actionable????

3.17.2009

Voices from the north


I got an email yesterday from a fellow named Larry in North Scituate, not far from Chepachet, that knocked my sox off. It seems that he's devoted a considerable chunk of time researching a piece of family history with his sister, and it all has to do with elephants.

One of the most famous elephants in modern western history was called Jumbo, a mammoth star of the British Empire who won the hearts and the minds of those islanders in the late 19th century. In a slip of sanity, the poobahs at the London Zoo sold him to P.T. Barnum, who traipsed him around North America until a train ended his life in Canada in 1885. The family connection, it seems, is that Larry's great-grandfather may or may not have been engineer of the unfortunate iron horse that plowed into poor Jumbo's side and caused his demise. Thus Larry's interest in history, in elephants, and in the history of elephants. He has grown expert at navigating elephant research and has offered to help in this project.

At the end of the email he wrote words that will forever bolster my resolution to make this film. "We need more efforts involved with matters of the heart and spirit nowadays." Already he's been able to make a Jumbo connection with RI for me and I'm delighted. He provided the above shot of Jumbo's demise.


As a result, I can see a widening of the initial story, but not to the point of drowning the original intent.

On another front, I drove all the way up to East Providence this fine day to meet with Jan Mariani, the zoo rep for Roger Williams Park Zoo, where lucky Alice the Elephant awaits another visit from the AI stork.

Jan and I agreed to have a quiet little confab over Asian food near the zoo to iron out some details of where my interests and those of the zoo overlap. It was a pretty fruitful meeting and we both left with encouraging "to do" lists for future actions. Just the kind of meeting I like. Agenda-ed, on target, productive, and filling. I eagerly await more info as the week goes on. We discussed a "Day in the Life" feature in the Zoo section that I think could really engage one and all. She may be able to help me considerably in that direction.

Last week, between trips to Baltimore and NYC, I wrote the rough draft of the Chepachet story and am very encouraged with it. It flowed, and, because I was doing it in a 3 column format, I slowly began to see the pix that go with the words. In other words, this film is beginning to appear like a picture in an old-fashioned darkroom.

More as things develop...

3.01.2009

I'm beginning to see the light

I spent a lot of time going through my Pawtucket research the other day and thinking about how this movie is going to look when it's done and on the screen at the Academy Awards. Now, I must see about 100 docs a year, and I'm always fascinated at how many ways there are to tell a story on screen. I have (of course) my preferences as to watching them, but just as I feel I have the structure nailed, someone works a story that explodes my mind and I store it away for pilfering at the appropriate moment.

As I say, I was reading my notes and photocopies and I started to hear some voices in my head. Not the "Go and smite thine enemies" kind of voice, but the kind you might hear in my particular film. I heard layered voices, ambient sound, elephant cries, etc., with music, though the pictures weren't as clear as I might want. How to do this? Where to go from here?

More later...