Welcoming Departure - The Next Scott Ballard Films Production

Saturday, July 4, 2009

2009 World Beard & Mustache Competition Documentary


6000 miles, 14 days, 25 hours of footage....We (Matt Lawrence, Dave Rosenblum and I = Youngbull Productions with Parker Newton) survived the long road to Alaska in May to land in Anchorage in time to cover the 2009 World Beard and Mustache Competition. It was, of course, a unique experience with more happening than I could summarize now - thus the documentary - which is being edited as I type. We left from Portland and 4 days later found ourselves in Anchorage. Along the way, a lot of craziness, fireworks, wildlife and the sublime beauty of nature mixed with some pretty desolate towns - some bad meals and some terrible smelling hotels. Once in Anchorage it was a sprint through the week. Things went fast and we covered a lot - including the arrival of the international competitors, the parade through downtown Anchorage, some parties and lots of interviews. We met some great people and made some great friends like Kyle McNair from Toronto (who walked away a winner in his category!). I'll admit the competition was strange and I'll be vague for the sake of the documentary. I didn't know what to expect, but there was as much frenzy, nervousness, modesty and ego as any competition. We shot the documentary on an HVX200 recording on P2. This brought us a few issues, especially with transferring as we did not have a laptop with Avid or FCP with us. We worked through the issues and came out on top - we also shot on Super 8 and a small Canon HD cam. I'll keep the blog updated with the latest, as the documentary gets edited and we move toward a final cut!

About Me

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Portland, OR, United States
I am a cinematographer/videographer from Portland, Oregon. I am a recent graduate of Boston University's Graduate Film Production Program. My thesis film, Between Night - which was shot on 16mm in my hometown of Bellingham, Washington was an Official Selection of the Hartford International Film Festival in 2008. This blog is devoted to this film project as well as upcoming productions and project. I will also feature updates on my other projects including photography, writing and Gocco art cards and prints (Two Guitars Art Cards).

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