FST 495 Update #5

This weekend, I am so pleased to say that we have already raised $951, which means in the span of a week we are already 63% funded! We also have confirmed all three of our main interviews which will be with Lady Passion (Asheville subject, High Priestess at Coven Oldenwilde), Tony Brown (Shelby subject, Reverend at NCPCOW), and Alysha Pytlarz (Wilmington subject, student who is studying Wicca outside of class). We will have our first official shoot this weekend in Asheville, and we just spent two hours planning out all of the locations we want to film for B-roll while we are there. We also hope to get VOX pop downtown and perhaps additional interviews following our interview with Lady Passion. In other good news, we have added another composer named Dane Schmidt, who is all the way from Kansas. We also are having a fundraiser at Fuzzy Peach on October 4th, and 15% of all purchases from 7 to 9 PM will go towards our film! I was able to swing this because I used to work there and my boss offered to do this for the crew and myself. I can stress enough how happy I am to see this idea come to life and I am amazed at the amount of support from fellow filmmakers, old friends, and family as we pursue this project. I can't wait to see what this weekend holds, because we are in for a memorable filming and bonding experience.

FST 495 Update #4

Progress is being made! Besides working on the pre-production project and budgeting, we have officially launched our Indiegogo campaign! It's only the first night and we've raised 4% of our goal, which I'm still happy about! I've already gotten so many questions revolving around this film, and I hope that once the final product is made, we can really start a conversation among our viewers. Of course, what is a film without a few road bumps? I've talked to Tony Brown, who is our only unconfirmed subject, on the phone over 2 weeks ago and now I'm having issues reaching him. The good news is that if he falls through on returning our offer, I found out that my friend's stepmom is a Wiccan and would be happy to speak with us. Another interesting dynamic is that this subject could make the film a more personal piece since I know this woman pretty well, but had no clue she was a practicing, high priestess Wiccan. In other news, we are preparing for our first interview which will be on Sunday, September 25 with Margot, a fairly new Wiccan. We also are getting ready for our Asheville interview, which will be on Saturday, October 1. I'm so happy to see this project come together and can't wait to see where it takes us next!

FST 495 Update #3

I'm happy to announce that we have decided on a name for our film: Modern Craft. We also filmed our Indiegogo campaign video today and plan to launch in a week. We feel it's important for our film to have a campaign because our documentary could put the money towards travel, hotel, craft services, production design, and festival costs. We've set a budget for $1500 and are so excited to launch! I've already made a Facebook page so that we can begin to network prior to our campaign launch. I also received a call from a potential second subject, Tony Brown, who is located in Shelby, NC. If we are allowed to interview him, we will get to go up to Shelby on October 15 and witness the NCPCOW (North Carolina Piedmont Church of Wicca) Samhain Shindig. I'm currently working on the schedule for the remainder of the semester and setting deadlines for my fellow crew members. I'm so proud of the amount of hard work that everybody is putting into this project and cannot wait to see it come to life. We cannot wait to present our pre-production presentation and hope that our campaign video is done by then because we would love to show it to the class. I'm so grateful to be producing this project and cannot wait to see the final product!

Expert Bios/10 Questions for Each

I have three possible subjects total, but one is undecided. The first two experts, Tony Brown and Melanie Gilbreath are members of the NCPCOW (The North Carolina Piedmont Church of Wicca) and the third expert I came up with is undecided at the moment. I have questions I want to ask an unbiased expert (hopefully a religious professor), but I haven't found who I would want to talk to yet.

Tony Brown 

Bio:

Tony Brown is a founding member of NCPCOW and has been a practicing Wiccan for almost twenty years. At the church, he is the High Priest Emeritus and is devoted to the Greek God of rebirth, Dionysos. He is also the vice-chancellor of the NCPCOW. He is very active in his community and has a established a family friendly environment at the NCPCOW.

10 Questions:

1. How did you go about founding NCPCOW and are there other communities in your area?
2. Outside of NCPCOW, do you have a job? If so, what is your profession?
3. How did you recruit priestesses and priests at NCPCOW?
4. Before you became a Wiccan, were you practicing a different religion?
5. Is anybody in your family Wiccan? If not, do they accept your religion?
6. Why did you decide to become  a Wiccan?
7. Have you ever faced discrimination as a Wiccan? Discuss recent discrimination versus past discrimination.
8. In your opinion, what is one of the most common misconceptions that outsiders have had towards your religion?
9. Can you explain what the holiday Samhain is and why it is sacred to your religion?
10. What is different about the reception of Wiccans by the public now versus when you first became one?

Melanie Gilbreath

Bio:

Melanie Gilbreath is a high priestess and member of NCPCOW and has been a practicing Wiccan for eleven years. She is devoted to the Minerva, Roman goddess of Goddess of learning and the arts and the god Mercury, who revolves around traveling, trade and commerce. She studies African, Native American, and European folk magic and loves to travel as well as engage in textile crafts.

10 Questions:

1. How did you find out about and decide to join NCPCOW?
2. Outside of NCPCOW, do you have a job? If so, what is your profession?
3. How did you become a high priestess at NCPCOW?
4. Before you became a Wiccan, were you practicing a different religion?
5. Is anybody in your family Wiccan? If not, do they accept your religion?
6. Why did you decide to become  a Wiccan?
7. Have you ever faced discrimination as a Wiccan? Discuss recent discrimination versus past discrimination.
8. In your opinion, what is one of the most common misconceptions that outsiders have had towards your religion?
9. Can you explain what the holiday Samhain is and why it is sacred to your religion?
10. What is different about the reception of Wiccans by the public now versus when you first became one?

Undecided Expert:

Bio:

N/A

10 Questions:

1. Why did you decide to study Wiccan religion?
2. Can you explain what the other subsets of Pagan are besides Wiccan?
3. Have you ever seen a Wiccan gathering? What was that experience like?
4. Are you friends with anybody/teach anybody who is Wiccan?
5. Do other religions you study relate to Wiccan religion?
6. What are the positions that need to be filled within a Wiccan church?
7. Could you tell us about the Salem witch trials?
8. In your opinion, what is one of the most common misconceptions that outsiders have had towards Wiccan religion?
9. Can you explain what the holiday Samhain is and why it is sacred to their religion?
10. What is different about the reception of Wiccans by the public now versus twenty years ago?

FST 495 Update #2

I'm so excited to report that we are booked for our trip to Asheville and have locked down our first official subject there: Lady Passion! I called her and she scheduled an interview with us on Saturday, October 1 at 7 PM. We are staying at an Air BnB, which was only $56 a person for two nights when we divided the costs. We also are in the midst of our campaign as we plan for our video which we will shoot next weekend. We were going to shoot this weekend, but due to the threat produced by Hurricane Hermine, it would have been unsafe to check out equipment this past Friday. As a result, we had to reschedule (which luckily we had planned on just in case). The silver lining behind this happening is that we have more time to plan for the video and the campaign itself, which we're hoping to launch the following week. I'm almost done finalizing our shooting schedule, but I'm also working on a budget breakdown. I'm also hoping to send out the first few equipment requests today so we are planning ahead for shoots we can confirm. The next step will be to lock down more subjects and to make sure we approach each shoot with a strategy in mind.