The day our barn became a movie set

This is a barn in Greenwood County that belongs to my family. (To prove it, my dad put a sign that says "Knapp" on the side.) The barn has been there my entire life, but I don't remember it actually being used for anything, other than shelter for when it rained on our camping trips.
When Kenny Linn, our editor and DP, mentioned an old barn would be a great backdrop for narration, this is naturally the first place I thought of.
I can't say without bias how great my on-camera lines were. Between acting and singing in Wichita Gridiron and hosting a daily radio show, I'm honestly sick of hearing my own voice. Editing this shoot with Kenny over the weekend was painful.
But I'll say this: The shots look amazing. Kenny is the man. But I guess I've said that already.

Now that's blocking

This 16-square inch section was the main piece of blocking for our latest day of shooting, and it's where I spent a pretty big part of my Saturday.
I'll tell you more about this shoot tomorrow, but I haven't had much time to update this blog the last few days. My entire weekend was consumed with this, editing film with Kenny and being an extra in this movie.

Happy Easter

Here's a picture of me with the Easter Bunny, proving I made it to church this morning. It's the first photo taken of my new hat, which our friend Hollis Smith talked me into buying at Hatman Jack's.
The rest of my day will be spend eating dinner with my family at mom and dad's ... followed by watching more VHS tapes of the 1997 Southwestern College football team with my extremely patient editor, Kenny.

Nine hours

That's how much football tape Kenny and I have watched so far of the 1997 Southwestern Moundbuilders season. More to come this weekend.

Back to the game film

One of the cooler aspects of "Out Here In Kansas" will be a segment describing Burt's time as an All-American football player. But it's also proving to be the most challenging.
To start with, Burt was an offensive guard, which has got to be the hardest position in football from which to choose highlights.
There is one play in particular we're looking for, and we have yet to find it. But I know we will, That's because Kenny and I have secured all the game tapes from Burt's senior season at Southwesteren College (and a VHS player on which to watch them). So far we've seen every second of five games, which means we're almost halfway finished.

Searching for Paul Harvey Jr.

Actually, his birth name is Paul Harvey Aurandt II, and he is the son of the legendary radio broadcaster Paul Harvey. For reasons that are important to the film, I need to speak to the son, who is a legend in the radio business himself.
If anyone out there has a connection, I would be grateful for any help. As a longtime journalist, I'm used to tracking people down, but I continue to hit dead ends.
My email address is adamduaneknapp@gmail.com, and thanks for reading our blog.

Remember her?

This week we got a new pair of eyes and ears on "Out Here In Kansas" - those of Maria Elena, who has been a friend of the project for about a year.
You might remember me writing about Maria Elena when she played our benefit concert back in April, She's agreed to score the movie as we continue to edit our way toward a final product.