Capturing Our Imaginations

I spent a half hour or so, maybe even a full hour, building a shoot/scene list for the DVD we’re going to create. Yes, I’m 191 days early. It’s just another way of walking through my dreams of adventure, like an alpine skier waiting to slide up to his gate. I can picture myself there in 2D, knowing that the time and depth will make the moments come alive—like we’re in a movie or reality show.
This is, after all, our Amazing Race—not against other couples or families, but against the restrictions of time and perception. I want to soak up as much as possible, to bring back some of the stomach butterflies and stunning beauty collected through osmosis.
I always take a lot of photos. Some would even say too many pictures. There’s a fine line between enjoying the moment and trying to capture it, a line most often crossed at weddings. Not ours . . . but many I’ve attended. To prevent my tendencies from creating such an experience, Timmy and I are looking to wear waterproof, body-mounted video cameras. So, we can be free to just be, to do, to feel—to jump spread eagle.
I’ve inquired of the Fear Factor and Amazing Race production teams and researched online what motorcross teams and the US military use for such projects. I’m getting closer; and the closer I get, the more expensive an undertaking it looks to be. It may not be Hollywood or ESPN when we’re done, but I think we’ll do alright—kind of like a Travis Pastrana production.
But we need proof, and we need to generate proof for others without compromising the direct experience for us. I have a terrible memory. When it works, it’s selective at best. Hopefully the DVD we put together will compensate for the holes in our blurting storytelling and will guide the imaginations of those we leave behind.
And guide our retroactive imaginations after we’ve left.
Tentative outline for DVD project:
Transportation
Photo: a tickets in hand, hugging parents/wife goodbye, sleeping partners, shots from plane window (some used for blooper/deleted scenes) transcontinental, transPacific, and island hopping, map pointing with time zone explanation
Video: start and finish of trip from Lynchburg and/or Massey, takeoff and/or landing from States and/or NZ, driving in NZ [4 minutes>] Landscape
Photo: view from various venues, mountain/lake/gorge pictures, road signs, road side novelties
Video: driving skit(s), asking for directions [2 minutes>] Hotels
Photo: exhaustion (jetlag!) photos, writing emails home, church service/sign
Video: working on DVD [1 minute>] Cascading
Photo: waterproof camera shots, equipment assembly, personalities
Video: big jumps and climbs [6 minutes>] Sky Tower
Photo: suited up, view from deck, stairs/railings
Video: sucking it up, jumps [6 minutes>] Whitewater Rafting
Photo: waterproof shots
Video: big rapids [7 minutes], fast forwarded trip [1 minute>] Blackwater Rafting
Photo: waterproof shots with flash
Video: repelling in [3 minutes>] Hobbiton
Photo: signs, superimposing, etc.
Video: Timmy impersonations, etc. [4 minutes>] maybe splice in LOTR footage
Gondola, Luging
Photo: gondola, helmet brothers, city, dinner
Video: downhill lap plus fast forwarded footage of other laps, gondola ride up conversation [7 minutes>] Bungy
Photo: pre- and post jump
Video: cable car movement, jumps, post comments [10 minutes>] Sky Swing
Photo: pre- and post jumps
Video: the hookups and jumps [7 minutes>] Sky Diving
Photo: pre- and post jump, airplane shots, out-the-door shots
Video: instructions, suiting up, jumps, post comments [10 minutes>] Sledging
Photo: waterproof camera shots
Video: big rapids [7 minutes], fast forwarded trip [1 minute>] Motor Crossing
Photo: posing with the bikes, shots of scenery
Video: highlights, racing [2 minutes>] Video extra possibilities
reality-show style confessionals scattered after each event
commercials for diapers, toilet paper, wet wipes, Preparation H, etc. shot in Napolean Dynamite style