[pct-l] PCT 2003 DVD

[The Weathercarrot]

Hi -

It looks like I'll be putting together the PCT class of 2003 DVD. For those 
on pct-l who haven't heard about it, I'm including a message I sent to the 
2003 yahoo group a few weeks ago. It explains everything, but long story 
short - I'd like to try and make this represent the entire season as much as 
possible with contributions from many people. So if you have ANY material at 
all from 2003 (photos, video, audio, etc), it could be usable on the DVD. 
The more I have to choose from the more creative I can be with the 
combinations.  I'm also looking for ideas and suggestions for the soundtrack 
(or to put it more acurately - I'm desperate - I only have one song picked 
out so far). All the details are below. Also, feel free to forward this to 
other people you knew in 2003.  Hope to hear from you soon.

wc

====================================

Hello everyone,

I know this message is long, but I hope you’ll stick it out to the end………

When I attended Belcher and Navigator’s wedding last year, the premise of a 
PCT DVD for each year’s class was starting to establish itself. The one for 
2004 had been completed, and Whistler and H were on their way to making one 
for 2005. So at the wedding, we talked a little about the idea of a class 
video for 2003, and Northerner expressed an interest in doing it.

This past weekend I attended the ALDHA (east) Gathering, and was surprised 
to see that about 14 members of the class of 2003 were there (plus Squatch 
and Monte Dodge, who I thought I’d never see east of the Mississippi).  
During one of those days, I had lunch (or dinner) with Squatch, Yogi, 
Teatree, Wookie, and others, and again the subject of a DVD came up.  
Teatree mentioned that Northerner would not be able to do it, and by the end 
of the meal I was basically being asked to take it on (and I was offering to 
do it at the same time because I’ve been craving the creativity of another 
project like this).  At the end of the weekend I had also talked to most of 
the other 03-ers who were there (including Walt Radney , Roni, and Mother 
Nature’s Son), and they all seemed excited by it and were intending to send 
in photos.  The premise has been that someone from each class should be 
doing each DVD, and since I didn’t hike any of the PCT in 2003, I was 
concerned that I may not be familiar enough with everything unique to that 
group, but they seemed to think that that wasn’t an issue. And when I think 
about it, I’m surprised by how many 03ers I’ve met and talked with in the 
past three years.

By the time the Gathering was a day or two behind me, the scale of this 
really started to sink in.  This would be a solid six month project, 
starting with the collection of photos and video, several weeks of sorting 
that material into a preliminary outline, the creation of a soundtrack, a 
month of final editing, compiling a data base of mailing addresses for 
everyone who was out there in some form of long-distance capacity (whether 
they did the entire trail or not), and finally duplication and shipping the 
finished DVD as a free gift to the class of 2003…. And all of this in time 
for the kickoff next April.

So basically, this all needs to start happening right now, and this e-mail 
to the 03 Yahoo group is the first step. Here are some specifics on what I 
need help with:

The main thing is that I need as many photos and as much video as possible. 
The more I receive, the more of a representation of the entire season this 
can be, from earliest to the latest northbounders, as well as southbounders, 
flip floppers and any other directional combination.

I’m looking for digital photos in a jpeg format, at a relatively high 
resolution (preferably larger than 1600x1200). High resolution allows me 
more flexibility in the pan and zoom movements. If all you have are smaller 
sizes, you can send it anyway, and I’ll see if I can use them. Also, keep in 
mind that I generally can’t use images from Trail Journals, because they are 
too small.

I know that in 2003, many  people were carrying film cameras. Unfortunately, 
I’m not going to be in a position where I can scan prints, slides, or 
negatives, so it would be great if you can have that stage taken care of 
already. To cut down on time, one possibility would be to sort through your 
prints and slides and pick out what you’d consider the best, and scan just 
those (300 dpi or higher). For those who are unable to scan any prints at 
all, are there volunteers who could do that?

I’m happy to receive as many shots as you’re willing to send.  Shipping a CD 
is much more practical for me than via e-mail, unless you’re submitting less 
than about 20 images. Also, I have a 20 megabyte limit for incoming 
attachments per message.

As far as subject matter, anything can potentially qualify, whether it 
involves the human element or not. Group photos, landscape shots, candid 
shots, goofy/silly shots, wildlife, flowers, towns, host families, trail 
angels, clouds, rain, abstract artsy shots, etc etc.

And video too. If it’s already on a CD or DVD, I can use it. If it is still 
on the original tape (mini DV, 8mm, or whatever) and nowhere else, see if 
you can get it into a file format I can edit (just by transfering it from 
the tape to the computer and then burning onto disk should put it into a 
usable format). If that’s an issue, let me know and we can figure something 
out.

I need all of this material in my hands as soon as possible. If it can be 
coming in steadily over the next 8 weeks, with a deadline of December 15th, 
that would be awesome. My logistical situation and access to computers is 
limited, so I can only pull this off by doing each stage of the project 
within specific periods of time.

The address here is:

Weathercarrot
Blackburn Trail Center
34899 Appalachian Trail Road
Round Hill, VA 20141

I’m only here until mid December, and it would be best to receive everything 
well before that so I can have much of it sorted by the time I leave.

There are two other major components of this project I need help with right 
away. The first is music.  My own collection was totally picked through to 
create the soundtracks for the AT, PCT 04, and ALDHA videos.  There’s very 
little left that would work well. So I need lots of suggestions, including 
song/artist/album names. I’m most interested in instrumental stuff. Only a 
few of the songs will have lyrics. Movie soundtracks are a great source of 
the kind of music I’m looking for. The PCT 04 DVD had music from the films 
Baraka, Winged Migration, 1492 – Conquest of Paradise, Antarctica, 
Gladiator, and Whale Rider.  Any help at all would be much appreciated. The 
soundtrack is by far the most difficult part of the project, and so far I 
have no music picked out. And if you’re feeling extra motivated, feel free 
to compile a CD or two of possibilities.

The last item I need to mention is the database of mailing addresses. I know 
there’s a spreadsheet of contact info, and there are several dozen people on 
this list, but I’d like to make this as all-inclusive as possible and track 
down as many people who were out there, which means updating and expanding 
what we have now. Ideally this would mean tracking down somewhere between 
200 and 300 people. So feel free to forward this to anyone you know who may 
not be on the yahoo group, and ask them to forward it on to everyone they 
know, and so on. I’ll also start picking my way through the spreadsheet one 
person at a time. This process worked well for 2004 and 2005. This past July 
I took over distribution of Whistler and H’s 2005 DVD, and within a four 
week period I had current street addresses for 250 members of the class of 
2005, and they all received a DVD.   I would be happy to repeat that process 
here, because this is worth while, fun, and everyone benefits.  Thanks for 
being out there and I hope to hear from you soon. Take care,

Weathercarrot

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