We traveled to Richmond, Virginia for the first of our home visits. Richmond is the hometown of Brandon MacConnell, center snare drummer & section leader of the 2012 Madison Scouts. We spent two days with Brandon, his family, friends, and co-workers and documented what his life is like outside of drum corps. He’s a very motivated young man. Lots of ambition and drive keep Brandon moving non stop through his studies, his job, teaching drumline at Deep Run high school and preparing to leave home for three months to be part of this activity. He’s the first of three characters that we are visiting over the next week and a half for our film, “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood”.

Sean Phelan conducts the Scouts hornline at March Camp

Over the last nine months we’ve created some substantial buzz about our documentary production. Not only have we been put in contact with some talented people, but some have contacted us directly about wanting to work on the project. Some of them have even offered to work for free. This has been music to our ears since we are trying to keep the costs as low as possible on this film. Now that we are approaching critical shooting dates some of those people have become unavailable due to scheduling conflicts. We now need to film some holes in our crew and we are looking for film/tv professionals who would be interested in working with us.

We prefer individuals who have drum corps experience for two reasons. Number one…the schedule of this activity is unlike anything else. Long hours in the hot sun, traveling late at night after a hard day, and sleeping on school floors. It’s certainly not for everyone. Number two…just about everyone who has put in the time and effort to be a part of the drum corps activity has an enthusiasm for it, and that’s an important factor for us.

We are specifically looking for camera operators, production sound mixers, assistant picture editors, and production assistants. If you are interested in being part of an incredible film please reach out to us through the contact form on our Gigantic Cranium page.

Thank you

My flight to Indianapolis. March 2012

In less than a week we will be flying around the USA for one of our most important trips for our documentary film, “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood”. We will be traveling around to visit three members of the 2012 Madison Scouts before they depart for a full summer of drum and bugle corps. The goal is to capture footage of what life is like for these young men outside of the activity. To find out who they are, where they come from, speak to their families, and find out what drives them to sacrifice their time, money, and energy to participate with the Scouts.

One of the hurdles that we are bumping up against is the cost of air travel. We are flying to three different parts of the country and then to Indianapolis for the first days of Spring Training. This adds up very quickly. If you have miles that you are willing to donate to get us where we need to go that would be fantastic. It all helps. We will accept miles for any airline, but would prefer rewards from Southwest and Airtran. The reason those two airlines are the best for us has to do with bag fees. We learned the hard way in March that Delta’s bag fees are outrageous (United and American have similar policies). Since we are often hauling heavy equipment it can become an issue. Having said that any free flights on any airline will greatly help us.

Thank you very much for supporting our film!

Crew members capture the Madison Scouts baritones during a morning sectional in Indianapolis

It was a few weeks ago, but I want to tell you about our last shooting trip to Indianapolis for our documentary film “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood”. We hadn’t been with the Scouts since their January camp in Dallas, but we were welcomed by the members and staff like family. The intense weekend rehearsals were at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and we were excited to hear the last third of the show music which is based around “Pictures at an Exhibition”. Drum corps fans and particularly Madison Scouts fans are going to be thrilled with this year’s show.

We upped our game so to speak on this shoot since we were able to bring along our newest member of the “Scouts Honor” crew, Nathan Haugaard. Nathan has worked in Hollywood for the last couple of years, building 3D cameras, assisting camera crews, and shooting on various kinds of projects. My friend Cassie Jaye, hooked me up with Nathan and it just happens that he has a drum corps background. He marched in the 2006 Seattle Cascades. He played tenors in that corps and has always looked back on his drum corps days as an unbelievable experience. Nathan is now able to bring his love for film and drum corps together. Nathan’s knowledge of the activity and his enthusiasm make him a valuable addition to our crew, and we hope to bring him along for many more shoots this year.

With Nathan’s expertise we captured some breathtaking footage of the horn line, and drum line during their pre-season rehearsals. Meanwhile, I’ve been working on finding our characters for our film. We are honing in on a few members of the 2011 Scouts, and have a good idea who will be the focus of “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood”. These are tough decisions to make since every member has an interesting story to tell.

Thanks for supporting our film and we will continue to share our filmmaking journey with you.

Here’s a list of things that our movie/crew could certainly benefit from:

• Frequent Flyer Miles (airline flights might be our largest expense for our film)

• Rental cars and/or RV rentals

• Shipping discounts (FedEx, UPS)

• Motel Room discounts

Also gift cards to the right kind of places would certainly save us a significant amount of money on all sorts of things from hard drives, batteries, gasoline, food, camera gear, bottled water, etc.  We will mostly be in the Midwest throughout the summer with possible trips to the South and East Coast. Therefore gift cards to a specific local business, or West Coast chains probably won’t help us.

Gift cards from these businesses would certainly help:

• Apple store, Costco, Sam’s Club, Best Buy, Full Compass (Madison, WI based video/audio retailer), B&H Photo, Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe’s

• Fast food chain restaurants: Subway, Burger King, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Sonic, Denny’s, KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, etc.

• Hotel chains: Holiday Inn, Best Western, Marriott, Quality Inn, Days Inn, etc.

• Gas station chains throughout the Midwest

If you have other business connections that we haven’t mentioned, but you think we would benefit from please let us know. And If you can, or know someone that might be willing to help us with some of the above items please get a hold of us through our Contact link.

Thank you!

Mac & Tom

Meanwhile we are mapping out the shooting schedule for the rest of the Spring and Summer.  We have a lot that we want to capture, but the money we collect for the film will dictate how much we can actually shoot.  Right now we have a long ways to go on the film financing side and it’s certainly an uphill battle.  We’ve got some ideas and are formulating those now.  We welcome any suggestions or thoughts about creative ways for us to find the needed funds.

Thanks for your support!

As I’m sure you are aware, our initial fundraising campaign for “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood” concluded last night at midnight. We were absolutely overwhelmed by the outpouring of support during our final push. Thanks to your hard work, contributions, and spreading of the word, we are extremely pleased to announced that we have raised over $13,000.00 during the campaign! This is going to be crucial as we enter the next phase of the project, which includes continued filming at winter camps and the build-up to the 2012 summer tour. As I’m sure anyone who has been at camp can tell you, the show this year is going to be amazing and we could not be more excited about being given the opportunity to capture it for you all!

We have been contacted a few times about the fact that the IndieGoGo campaign did not reach our listed contribution goal. Please be assured that all of the funds raised during this campaign will be used for “Scouts Honor” and we are in the process of formulating our next fundraising phase. We will be in contact shortly with details, including ways in which additional contributions can be made directly on-line.

Again, we cannot thank you all enough for your donations, words of encouragement, and support during the IndieGoGo campaign for “Scouts Honor!” Stay tuned for more updates from the field and news on the progress of the film!

Thanks so much,
Mac, Tom, and the “Scouts Honor” Crew

Just wanted to remind everyone that there is still time to donate to our IndieGoGo fundraising campaign for “Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood”, which ENDS TONIGHT at midnight PST. To check out the page for the campaign please click here: IndieGoGo Campaign Page. The response this weekend has been amazing and we are truly honored by each and every donation that we have received. This is the end of just one aspect of our fundraising efforts for the documentary and we will be updating everyone soon with other ways in which they can further support the production of the film. As we previously reported, all of the funds donated to the IndieGoGo campaign will be used for the making of the film, regardless of the final tally. And don’t forget about our great contribution perks like the DVD/BluRay version of the finished product and DCI Finals tickets in the Madison Scouts seating block! There is still plenty of time to make your contribution and pass along the word about “Scouts Honor” to all of your friends and family!

Thanks so much,
Mac, Tom, and the “Scouts Honor” crew

Hey everybody,

Due to the amazing response that we have been getting lately, and as an extra incentive for potential supporters in this last day of the campaign, we are very excited to announce a new contribution level with some very cool perks!  For a $1,000.00 donation to the Scouts Honor project, you will become a “Fleur-De-Lis” level sponsor, which entitles you to the “Brotherhood” level perks (including an associate producer credit, personalized business cards, and a “thank you” performance by a member of the Scouts) PLUS two (2) tickets to DCI Finals in Indianapolis, Indiana on August 11, 2012 and a brunch with the filmmakers on August 12, 2012 (travel expenses not included).  The Finals tickets will be in the Scouts block, so if you were already planning on attending Finals this would be a great way to support SCOUTS HONOR, as well.  As always, your donations are cumulative, so if you have already donated at a level lower than $1,000.00, your prior donation will be added to your new contribution when calculating your perks.

We hope that you are excited as us about the new “Fleur-De-Lis” donation level and perks.  Remember that there are only 30 hours left in our campaign for Scouts Honor, so any support is greatly appreciated and we would love it if you could help spread the word about this great project tonight and tomorrow.

Thanks!  Mac and Tom