Tackling the issue of music for my capstone documentary is a challenge that is easier said than done. Taking any song from YouTube and putting in your film won't cut it as you have to have copyright access to the music. Luckily I have some connections that have helped me get around this barrier. First meet JD Eicher and the Goodnights. This band is comprised mostly of people that went to Westminster College a few years ago. Their most recent album Shifting reaches out to listeners with detailed pictures of love, struggle and hope. This fits right with where my capstone is heading with its storyline. I have emailed JD who has given me permission to use the band's songs. All I need to do is put the band in the credits to help promote their music. I feel this is more than a fair trade off. I'm very excited about being able to work with some of their hit songs.
One track from the album Shifting which I plan on utilizing is a song called Beauty of It All. An uplifting song, I feel that it can really tie my whole story together. Take a listen below.
Another musical resource that I have at my disposal is a close family member with quite a talent. My uncle Mark Underhill (featured to the far right in the picture) got together with a couple of co-workers years ago to form a band called Island Doom. Primarily a cover band they would go from venue to venue playing classic hits from the 80s all the way to today. My uncle Mark is the lead guitarist with the band and he is working with me to come up with a couple of instrumentals to use throughout the capstone. I've sent him a couple of video clips to help him understand the type of tone that I am looking for at certain parts of the documentary.
Overall I am looking forward to enhancing my documentary with the world of music. Together with JD Eicher and the Goodnights and my uncle Mark I hope that I can make my film have that much more of an impact.
To learn more about JD Eicher and the Goodnights or Island Doom check out the links below.
The event that is really shaping my documentary is the wedding of Scott and Sarah Coy. If you'll notice, I have changed the title of my documentary from From the Ground Up to 4th and a Miracle. Taking a look at the situation as a whole really helped me shape this title. From where Scott Coy was after falling from the Opryland Hotel to where he is now (alive, healthy, married, having a son and returning to work), it truly is a miracle. Take that and add in a football pun, you now have my new and improved title.
Sarah giving Scott a kiss at the hospital
Looking more specifically at the wedding, it was an event that changed my primary focus of my documentary. Originally I was going to solely focus on the injury of Coach Coy and the incident down in Nashville. It would have revolved around Scott with other characters providing supplementary information. However when I found out through an interview that Scott and Sarah were scheduled to get married before the accident, the wheels started turning. I learned that they still kept the wedding date despite all that had happened. Some suggested that they postpone the date, but the two were set on keeping things as planned.
After getting married and later having their first son Preston, it made me think. The story of these two and their relationship is unlike any other. Persevering like they did is something to be commended. Sarah stuck by Scott the whole way through thick and thin. When some might have decided to move on from that life, Sarah kept her ground. She loved Scott so much that she wanted to be there every step of the way. I felt that I needed to incorporate Sarah as a co-main character. The dynamic of their relationship is truly a special story that I want to tell to my audience.
To check up on how Scott and the Westminster Titans are doing just click on the link below.
Throughout the production of my documentary there have been different obstacles that I have had to overcome. During the summer I actually changed the main focus of documentary from solely on Scott Coy to on both him and his wife Sarah. The dynamic of their relationship really brought out some great focal points where I could lead the story. The conflict of whether or not to still get married after the accident was an event that I felt could really bring up different viewpoints. Also sticking together through some difficult times and persevering is a theme that can contribute to an uplifting story.
Another technical obstacle that I faced was shooting with the HD VJ gear. At some points during interviews I noticed that the video seemed a little darker than usual. This was because the iris was set on manual instead of auto. Hence I had to re-shoot the interviews.
Also during one interview with Coach Coy's father, the lavalier mic was
brushing up on the skin from his neck. This caused the audio to be
unacceptable to use for the documentary. However I was able to re-shoot
the interview with him and things went well the second time. Although this made my shooting day very stressful, I just needed to keep thinking positively in order to get through it.
