A rough-cut of the full film was finished in May of 2010, and we managed to bring each act down to 20-25 minutes. The response, at a series of work-in-progress screenings and among colleagues and funders, has been very promising. The basic work -- of bringing together the pieces of a movement, structuring the shape and flow of the film, turning stories into scenes that make sense and get at meanings – is successfully done. It’s looking like the film we imagined and intended.

The fall of 2010 was devoted to archival work – sourcing, mastering and clearing all the material we’d helped ourselves to earlier. It’s heartening how many filmmakers have been willing to help us, often for little or nothing. This was also our first experience with fair use. We were surprised to find that most of the archival material qualifies. Then the problem became how to master the film that costs $60 per second or is otherwise unavailable. Luckily, Kim Aubry at ZAP Productions was experimenting with something called Dark Energy, a black box that converts to high definition video. Ripping and up-rezzing from DVD’s worked beautifully. Now much of the archival mastering is done and the rights budget has dropped substantially.

On our fourth try, the film received a grant from the Sundance Documentary Fund. It makes possible the final round of creative work, scripting and editing a fine-cut. Highest priority will be coming up with an opening and a closing for the film – quite the challenge. We also need to create new endings for Acts 4 & 5; shape the overall arc of the film; integrate additional interviews and archival material; write another draft of the narration; figure out music; finesse a thousand little details; and polish it all to a fine luster. That will take the spring of 2011. We hope to lock picture in June.

Then comes the completion phase, which will take a few motnhs and a couple hundred thousand dollars. There’s online editing and color correction. The soundtrack needs to be built and mixed. We expect to do a variety of animation, from graphics to the title sequence and cards for each act. We need to record music and narration. Inevitably there will be a final round of archival mastering – and the biggest single item: rights to film, photos and music. In the midst of all this work we will be ramping up outreach and marketing, preparing to launch the film in 2012. Also on the drawing board are a companion book, teaching materials, a more robust version of this website and, eventually, a series of short films that will expand and update A Fierce Green Fire.