19 Aug 2009

Four Minutes of A Life's Work: A Clip

by | posted in: Champion Tree Project, Clips, The Film | 5
Editing
Editing is a collaborative process.

In the spring I worked with editor Cabot Philbrick and constructed a 27-minute work-in-progress sample of A Life’s Work. I’m delighted that Cabot is including a portion of that work on his editor’s reel and you can view it online. I’m especially tickled because he’s showcasing the footage I shot! Of course it’s hard to go wrong when you’re shooting tree climbers scaling giant trees in a redwood forest.

This clip  follows David Milarch at Roy’s Redwood Preserve in northern California. Champion Tree Project spearheaded the project to clone the redwoods. The climbers are from Bartlett Tree Experts.

This four-minute section can’t convey the structure of the film, but it will give you a sense of the style. Check it out and let me know what you think.

5 Responses

  1. Peter LaMastro
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    Thanks for sharing this part of your project. I’m really interested in seeing the completed piece. It seems like you are not only capturing an important subject, but a very interesting one as well. And a nice job on the editing by Cabot.

  2. davidlicata
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    Thanks for commenting and your kind words.

    I’m very pleased with the sample and wish I could put the whole thing online, but that’s not doable right now.

    Look for more clips soon.

  3. Jane Deschner
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    Watching this, I thought first that redwoods are like nature’s skyscrapers. Then I noticed that everyone there was male (except maybe I saw one woman). Is there something “male” about tallest, biggest, most? Then I felt guilty about the redwood paneling in our living room (which the man who built our house put in), but nothing I can do about that except appreciate it in a different light. Really interesting, David. And, obviously, you provoked some thoughts in me.

  4. davidlicata
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    Thanks Jane. Glad the clip had that effect on you.

    I’m not sure if tallest, biggest, oldest, and a whole lot of other ests are male obsessions or human obsessions. It’d be interesting to know the gender demographic of purchasers of The Guinness Book of World Records, wouldn’t it? Majority are probably pre-teen boys. That’s when I owned it, at least.

    Redwood paneling: I had the same response when I visited the Highline this weekend, lots of redwood planks used on that. But redwood is commercially farmed because it grows relatively quickly and has such a high yield. Interestingly, David Milarch and his son Jared, co-founders of the Champion Tree Project, have differing attitudes when it comes to this. Jared views trees as a resource that requires proper management. He wants to make sure that resource is around and used for building for future generations. David has said he doesn’t want to see another tree cut down.

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