We’re almost done editing picture. The big thing we’ve been working on over the past month is the research process.
The post-production research process involves getting all the onscreen content you’ll see in cutaways and graphics. For example if a character talks about a historical document, and we show that historical document on-screen, someone has to track down and find that document in HD quality.
When we say research, we don’t just mean collecting articles or data. We’re not trying to find some documents or photos, or photos in any format. We need specific documents, photos, and footage in a format large enough we could project them in a theater and they wouldn’t lose quality. The old phrase “just google it” usually is not enough for this kind of research process. You have to hunt.
As you can imagine, a film like ours, which deals with science, history, legal issues, biology, human sexuality etc., has a lot of research.
The research process also involves tracking down stock footage. For example, paying someone to get aerial helicopter shots of the Washington DC area is expensive, but we can license them for a few hundred dollars. (Yes, the cost of stock footage adds up if you’ve got a couple dozen shots. Thankfully, we’ve budgeted for this.)
We had someone assist in the research process, who was very helpful in tracking down a lot of the news and scientific studies that you’ll see in the film, and had a few activists generously open up their archive to us, which included historical news broadcasts, and early photos and footage of the Intactivist movement.
When combined with our original footage, interviews, and other material, this is going to be the most in-depth look at the circumcision debate ever assembled on film. If you want an email when our film comes out, please subscribe here.