Making The Call of the Whistle took a lot longer than planned and this was very frustrating at times. But all in all it was a very enjoyable and fulfilling experience. This is the story of how it all happened.
Getting Started
I started really thinking seriously about doing this film when we purchased a new digital video camera in August, 2000 (after accidentally dropping our old camcorder). We had also been saving for a new computer at that time (one that would be able to edit video from our camera) and I saw we could realize this dream by the next summer.
One mistake I made was not writing a concept or a treatment out at first. I had a really clear vision of the project in my head but I did not expect the project to take on the depth it has. My plan was to make a nice looking home movie for my family, nothing more.
Filming
My work schedule was tied to a school calendar so I got the summers off. This made filming the footage I needed very easy.
On June 6, 2001, a few days after the end of the school year I filmed some of the supporting shots seen in the film. This included the shots of Kay-Gee 1875 when it wasn't at the show, the rusted steam engine, etc. I only had a couple of hours to work as we were due to leave on vacation.
I was scheduled to be out of town quite a bit that month. I had asked Jackie, my cousin, to tell me when they were going to cut the wheat with the binder. When he called I couldn't believe my good luck! They were going to cut wheat on June 14, one of the few days I would be home! I shot about 45 minutes of tape.
On June 26 one of my neighbors was cutting my mother's wheat with their combine. With their permission I filmed this for about 40 minutes. Then the camera broke.
Since the camera was still under warranty I had to send it off for repairs. I called the repair center and found it would take 4-6 weeks for the repairs to be made and the camera returned. I explained what I was planning to film in mid-July and they were nice enough to get the camera back in two weeks.
The majority of the footage in this film was shot at the Threshing Show from Friday, July 20 through Sunday, July 22, including the interview with my cousin, Jackie Swann. I shot about three hours of tape.
There were still a few things to film after the show was over. The introduction was filmed on October 23 and I interviewed my uncle, Paul Swann, on October 27. I also filmed the old Super 8 movie footage around this time. The only other thing I wanted to get on tape were some shots of tobacco plant beds. I had to wait until February 17, 2002, to shoot this.
Unfortunately, the camera broke down again on Thanksgiving day. What made this so frustrating was that the camera is necessary as a VCR for playing the footage I had filmed into the computer for editing. The happy ending to this part of the story is that the camera has shown no signs of trouble since being fixed the second time.
Filming the Introduction
The introduction was filmed on Tuesday afternoon, October 23, 2001. I had written the text a few weeks before but had to wait to film it when it wasn't raining and when my schedule permitted. I finally chose this day out of desperation because there was a break in the weather and I wanted to film before the leaves fell off the trees.
I never have been happy with the introduction but after everything I went through to get it on tape I never wanted to go back and redo it. I came home from work that day, grabbed the camera and headed back out. I was feeling a lot of self-imposed pressure to get this on tape when I went out the door and was having a lot of trouble remembering my lines when I rehearsed, so I was not at all relaxed.
It was difficult to find a filming location as I was actor and cameraman all in one. The sun was less than two hours from setting so not only was I losing light, the lighting and shadows were harsh and made it difficult to set up to shoot the scene. I finally chose the location seen in the film simply because the barn in the background and the trees behind the camera gave me the most even lighting.
This filming location was actually where my grandfather's sawmill was located. I never filmed the sawmill's site because it is so overgrown there is really nothing to see.
I intended to film several takes of the introduction to have something to choose from when editing the film. Forty minutes later I was very tired and had only two usable takes out of eighty-three. This was because I couldn't remember my lines or would get tongue tied. I mostly couldn't get past the second sentence.
There were other distractions too. Once, a cousin of mine drove by in his truck. His dogs were in the back of the truck and some other dogs were chasing the truck. My cousin doesn't drive fast and it took FOREVER for him and all those barking dogs to go by.
There is also a mobile home to my left. Right in the middle of my filming some people from that home and their friends decided to come outside with their shotguns for some target practice. I was not in danger but they had no idea I was just a few hundred feet away.
Engine and Separator Diagrams and Animations
I think having the idea of the animations was when this project developed into something a lot bigger than I originally planned. I thought it would be neat to show how the equipment worked and I started drawing diagrams seen in the film on October 4, 2001. Animating those diagrams quickly followed.
I found animation software to be very expensive. Deciding to make do with what I had I created all the diagrams with an application that uses vector graphics and drew each frame in each animation individually. The nice thing was that I could copy the graphic from the previous frame and use the arrow keys to bump objects around as needed. I would never have attempted this if I had not been animating rotating or reciprocating objects. Because of this 6, 12 or 24 frames could be repeated for as long as needed.
The boiler diagram was the easiest to animate. It only consisted of six frames. The cylinder parts (pages 14-15) are identified in four frames and an additional 24 frames are used to animate the piston and valve. The cylinder and drive wheel require another 24 frames. Starting from 3 diagrams a total of 58 frames were used to make this work.
Animating the separator parts was a lot harder. From start to finish this required 258 individual frames.
The old pictures used in the film are shown with a panning effect and are technically animations as well. However, this effect was created using specialized software.
Editing
I started editing Part 1 on October 27, the same day I interviewed Uncle Paul. I worked on this for weeks and by New Year's Day I was really struggling and only had a few minutes of edited footage to show for my efforts. What was hard was writing the narration to tie it all together. That is when I realized that I needed to define my project on paper. By the end of January the film treatment looked pretty much as it appears in this book. I found editing the film a lot easier once I had written out my ideas on paper. I started editing Part 2 on April 25, 2002, and got to Part 3 by June 12.
Editing went pretty quickly when I found time to work. On one occasion, when I had several days to work on the film, the computer would not recognize the camera. I got a lot of things done while the computer was being repaired, just no editing on the film.
It had been my plan to have the film completed by the 2002 Threshing Show. Seeing that I would not make this deadline I stopped all editing and began to develop a web site and other promotional materials for the show on July 8. After the show I was not able to do any work on the project for almost five months (well, I got a little done but not a measurable amount).
When I could get back to work I finished editing Part 3 and started Part 4 on New Year's Day, 2003. I finished the rough editing on January 17 and watched the film for the first time a few days later. That was when I felt comfortable setting a release date for a screening. I spent the time from January to April cleaning up the film and writing the book.
Narration
All the narration was recorded directly into the computer in my home. I have found I do not read well under pressure. Doing this was the slowest and least fun part of the project for me.
Later I noticed changes in my voice throughout the film. That is because all the narration voice overs were recorded over a 16 month period of time. I was amazed at how much the seasons and the weather affected my voice.
Budget
For those who are curious, this was a no budget project. I purchased the things I absolutely had to have but got by without all that I could. The bottom line for me is that I can say I had fun doing it.
The Production Schedule at a Glance
Preproduction
- Define Concept — January, 2002
- Write Treatment & Outline — January, 2002
- Research — June, 2001~January, 2003
Production
- Film at Threshing Show — July, 2001
- Film Supporting Footage — June, July, and October, 2001; February, 2002
- Film Interviews — July and October, 2001
- Create Animations — October-November, 2001
- Record Narration — October, 2001-January, 2003
- Record Music — January, 2003
Postproduction
- Edit Part 1 — October, 2001-April, 2002
- Edit Part 2 — April, 2002-June, 2002
- Edit Part 3 — June, 2002-December, 2002
- Edit Part 4 — January, 2003
- Assemble Master — February-March, 2003
Book
- Transcribe Text — October, 2001-February, 2003
- Write and Layout Book — January-April, 2003
- Interactive Companion (the precursor to this web site) — June, 2003-September, 2003
