The Center in South Carolina Works to Complete Filming of The ACE Basin: Common Ground

Regional Cultures of Conservation, ACE Basin History Documentary: Taking the Show on the Road

February 16th, 2010

: Filming in the ACE Basin

: Ashepoo River at Dawn

“Editing tape will make you weep,” says Larry Cameron, director of The ACE Basin: Common Ground, CHN’s documentary on successful land conservation in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Nevertheless, having amassed approximately 25 hours of raw footage in the ACE Basin, CHN’s producer Bill Bailey, director Larry Cameron, cameraman Joe Woodard, and the editors at the University of South Carolina’s media headquarter are eager to begin crafting the final product—a film that they hope will both delight and instruct viewers about the interaction of human and environmental history in the ACE Basin— a 350,000-acre section of the state’s southern coast.

In early February, the crew made a two-day visit to the area, with a stop at Cheeha-Cumbahee Plantation, a 12,500 acre tract and one of the lynchpins of the ACE’s early success, followed by a visit to Plum Hill Plantation where Brien Gregorie and timber grower Travis Bell generously spent hours helping establish shots of duck hunters in the field and finding impoundments full of feeding waterfowl. The crew spent a morning at the Donnelley family’s Ashepoo Plantation, scanning photographs of the Donnelleys and their friends, while along the way, they captured images, ranging from mists rising off the Ashepoo River at sunrise to ducks and swans flying to their roosts precisely at sunset.

And yet, in spite of all that has been recorded and the resulting satisfaction, there always seems to be a short list of sites to cover or an interview yet to be pinned down. Cameron and his associates continually note that a minute of edited tape contains approximately twelve separate shots, a cinematic reality requiring lots of footage with which to work. So there shall be at least one more visit to the ACE and another to Charleston to scan additional important photographs. Perhaps then, armed with a stack of interview transcripts, an expanded script, and a wagonload of extraordinary tapes, the Common Ground team can enter the editing studio, hopeful that what they sow with tears shall be reaped with songs of joy.

More posts about South Carolina, citizenship, civic engagement, conservation biology, farming, rivers, smart growth, strachan donnelley

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 8:47 am and is filed under South Carolina, citizenship, civic engagement, conservation biology, farming, rivers, smart growth, strachan donnelley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Center for Humans and Nature

Expanding Our Natural and Civic Imagination