In Part 1 of “Our Commitment to Historical Accuracy,” we talked about Great Divide Pictures’ philosophical foundation – that the best interpretation is the one that best serves the story and the viewer. We also defined historical accuracy, explored literal interpretation versus accurate impression, and how we work with historians. Here in Part 2, we […]
Filming historically accurate reenactments is mission critical to Great Divide Pictures. Given the films we produce are often for the National Park Service, historical accuracy is of prime importance. However, historical accuracy is a very subjective topic, often elusive, and open to wide variations of interpretation. In Part 1 of “Our Commitment to Historical […]
“Oh My, Look!” We had just completed filming an interview at Wind Cave National Park in the southern Black Hills of South Dakota. I was at my car with Gus Yellow Hair, a Lakota Sioux who I had just interviewed about the Lakota’s spiritual attachment to the Black Hills. Turning around, we witnessed a large […]
We recently wrapped production of our new interpretive film for Shiloh National Military Park. The 35-minute film will graphically and emotionally tell the story of the Battle of Shiloh. Fought in southern Tennessee in April 1862, Shiloh has often been called “The Gettysburg of the West.” Before Shiloh many in North and South naively thought one grand battle could end the Civil War. In two days of horrific battle, Union and Confederate casualties numbered over 20,000. That’s more than the wartime population of Atlanta. The carnage at Shiloh signaled not an end to the war, but in fact a bloody beginning.
I have filmed in all 50 states and have been fortunate to see some of the most beautiful spots in America. But few places have affected me as the first time I saw Crater Lake. Located high atop the Cascades in southern Oregon, Crater Lake National Park preserves one of the deepest and cleanest bodies of fresh water in the world. Great Divide is currently producing a new interpretive film for the Park.
A week before Christmas I journeyed to the Black Hills of South Dakota to get winter footage for our new film being produced for Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. Only on this day, the weather was not cooperating. While the rest of the nation is being clobbered by snow, it looks like summer in the Black Hills. Though the temperature hovered around zero, the sun shone brightly with no snow on the ground. My hope was to get gloomy winter shots to help convey the Lakota’s sacred Black Hills being seized by the US government in 1876. It wasn’t looking good.
