Homemade Documentaries

Project Mariner -- Status Update #1

Okay! This is the first entry in what will likely be an "every two weeks" sort of thing. Since we're doing this full-time now, that means I have lots of time to keep you all intimately informed on the process and what is going on.

The above image is really just a very basic, general overview of what's going on. It's not meant to be flashy, but just to give you a one-glance look at the situation. Down here, I'll get into each category with a little more specificity.

ON FUND...

Organizing interviews in the Pittsburgh area

Hello, Patrons! Just a quick note here -- I've reached out to several CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) and UPitt professors in the fields of planetary science, stellar science, and biological systems and have requested interviews, outlining our upcoming film and laying out what I'd like to accomplish with it. I already got some really positive responses, so we will have some bespoke "talking head" audio, which I am really excited for!

As a "Prequel" to the Voyager film and essentially ...

Big Patreon Facelift, and a tough reality

Hello, supporters. New and old -- thank you all so much for contributing to my work. I may have expressed an unprecedented employment appeal in my latest project, but the reality is -- every day I have a dream job made possible by all of you.

We got our latest price quote, and it made me choke a little bit. Just as expensive as the Shuttle film. I am pretty surprised, and I unfortunately think this really forces me to make a decision I was hoping to delay until at least the project afte...

Mariner wishlist — Natl. Archives approval

Okay! I already got my national archives request put together for this project and a technician there has approved it. The reels are a bit shorter so I’m optimistic on the price. However, lots of “P” items. This is both good and bad. For your purposes, it means likely footage very few have seen if any in the digital age. Exciting!

Now it’s off to Colorlab to get a price quote. I will share that with you and we can establish a firm funding target for this project. Writing ...

Thinking about next project — pivoting to Mariner program.

Hey, Patrons. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately on how the next video is going to be framed. I very much like to think that my work is unique not only for its quality, which I always aspire to maximize, but also for the role it fulfills within the greater ecosystem of content on the internet. In other words — I try to make videos that are not just “my take” on a subject that has already been covered by other creators, but rather videos that are completely unique in how they cat...

51A launch sequence, no captions or music (Public demo)

REMINDER this is not intended to serve as raw footage or audio. Significant mixing and 'human meddling' has been applied, this is simply to provide the full 'launch experience' without any documentary bells or whistles.

This is a public teaser of the kind of Patron-exclusive content available now!

41D launch sequence, no captions or music

REMINDER this is not intended to serve as raw footage or audio. Significant mixing and 'human meddling' has been applied, this is simply to provide the full 'launch experience' without any documentary bells or whistles.

41C launch sequence, no captions or music

REMINDER this is not intended to serve as raw footage or audio. Significant mixing and 'human meddling' has been applied, this is simply to provide the full 'launch experience' without any documentary bells or whistles.

41B launch sequence, no captions or music

REMINDER this is not intended to serve as raw footage or audio. Significant mixing and 'human meddling' has been applied, this is simply to provide the full 'launch experience' without any documentary bells or whistles.

Reminder: Patron playlist link is the best, one-stop place for all exclusive content uploaded to the second channel.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoDYN7Y6qKpJoZaYqk9NkZZxLLs8SxOtx&si=bqF6l08Yc-Dzy6wq

Alert: Uploading public version, "Early Access" coming down.

Patrons, just an FYI that I have implemented the fixes for public release and am going to be uploading/preparing the public version overnight. You may encounter some difficulty in watching the existing link at a certain point, as at some juncture it will have to be taken down. I apologize for any short-term inconvenience this causes.

First corrections coming in + Exclusive Content Ahead

Hello, Patrons!

Got some early feedback -- thank you so much! I watched it for the very first time with my grandfather today, got the "10,000 foot view" as it were. While editing, you're so in the weeds on small things, and looking at everything through a genuinely tiny little preview window, that there's a lot you miss until you get the opportunity to watch it on a big screen TV. There will definitely be corrections made and a re-upload before the 12th, and I appreciate all your feedba...

Shuttle '84: Year Of The Jetpack (Early Viewing)

3/30 -- the final progress update for this project

Well, here we are. I'm within 100 captions of completely finishing it.

I know that, a long time ago -- I announced I was holding myself to a "2 videos per year" timeframe. You have all been extremely patient with me, and late April 2024-early April 2025 is not what I meant by that, but I just wanted to express my sincerest gratitude for all of you who stuck with me through this process.

Soon, now -- I will be turning the keys over to you. What I mean...

Daily update 3/29

Patrons.

Yesterday, after writing the update, I went back to work and didn’t stop until 2 AM, marking a day that altogether saw 16 hours of work done, and I can report I have finished the final mission and brought the video to a conclusion.

All that now remains is captioning, which is a tricky task given the fact that there are now 7 people potentially flying aboard any one flight, and I have to do my best not to confuse their voices.

This will take some time to do ...

3/28 Progress and general video structure

Hello, Patrons. Making bullet train progress here. Today, officially -- I was supposed to be wrapping up STS-41C, or "Flight 2" as it's covered in the film. Instead, I just wrapped Flight 4. 

-41B, -41C, -41D, and -41G are complete. (We'll learn more about what happened to -E and -F in the video!) I'm now a full 48 hours ahead of schedule.

I have an INKLING that captioning may take longer than the single day I allotted it, so the time we're making up now is r...

3/27 Update: On Target, and runtime

Hey, Patrons. You can expect a much more regular series of updates in the coming days as we get down to the wire. Just writing to let you know I am, so far -- on target to my 4/4 release plan. I have approx. 45 minutes of the video edited, and we've only just deployed Westar VI and saw a balloon explode in space. For any space buffs out there that are aware this video covers through STS-51A, you will realize that we've got quite a ways to go!

I've almost always edited from a position of...

Firm Release Date: 4/4 for Patrons

It's finally upon us. Everything's coming together like clockwork, and thanks to a VERY long preparatory phase, editing is absolutely rushing by.

Based on very conservative estimates, the video should be 'fully edited' by April 1st. I've got three whole days built into the schedule for padding, so you can put money in the bank on April 4th. See you all then.

Public release will be 4/12, for obvious Shuttle-program anniversary timing considerations. (and Gagarin, of course!)...

What do you think about this as a title?

This is an altered image, I pasted it onto Gemini Pt. II so don't take the video length as a hint or anything. I've been kicking around a couple of titles. "1984" is the working title on this project, but of course I don't want people seeing the video thinking its a full rip of the John Hurt film!

A whole bunch of variations popping in and out of consideration.

"Shuttle: 1984"
"1984: NASA's Jetpack" etc etc...

Let me know what you think, so that this upcoming 1984 won't ...

Final footage shipment (Incl. Upscale)

Lots of STS-41B, STS-41C footage. Lots of brand new stuff, never before seen!

Patreon Status Board 3/1/2025

We're close!

Project Status Board 2/1/2025

Patrons, I had an idea. I am really disappointed with the pace of Colorlab and my experience in dealing with an archive company (as opposed to an individual), however it is treating me a very valuable lesson about how this will have to work going forward.

FYI, as of today, we have met all of our funding requirements for the next video. That will be sent to Colorlab on 2/7, who will immediately ship the footage to me. It's all scanned and everything, they are just waiting on the seco...

Apollo 11: Relook (January)

Sorry this was late! Patreon-exclusive content for the month of January. Apollo 11 footage, remastered with my most up-to-date methods, plus a google drive folder filled with 303 GB of Apollo 11 material, all for you!

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1V3WOI7hdtenjNmO5kviR5GUKvYC7PHiF?usp=drive_link

*NEW FOOTAGE* - STS-41B

Only one more shipment to come in after this (STS-41C), then the finished video itself! There is some -41C content in the file FR-D803, but otherwise everything here is STS-41B material in STUNNING quality!

Appreciation Post + New Footage Coming In

Patrons, my next batch of brand new footage came in, and I am currently uploading it for early viewing access. It is STS-41B onboard film as you've never seen it before. Above, I have attached a price quote for the cost of digitizing 10 reels of the next mission's film, STS-41C.

I think you are owed some explanation as to why it is so much more challenging to work in the Shuttle era than Mercury, Gemini, Apollo. With less historical interest and overall documentary projec...

Apollo 12: A Relook

Upscaled and revisited footage of Apollo 12! Lots of great stuff in here.

There's so much more to see here, as well:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X0I8G37S_VqcsQrPHWu3EKXLo86jayd_?usp=drive_link

Apollo 13: A Relook

Patrons! Still in limbo on receiving Shuttle footage, so I have decided to go crazy and upscale/de-grain footage from every single Apollo mission I've covered! Working my way backwards from 14, here is the next installment. Each one of these will be accompanied by a Google Drive folder that contains all of the original and upscaled files, and I will be churning these Patron-exclusives out more rapidly as (hopefully) consolation. You can expect Apollo 12: A Relook by the end of the month. 2024-11-22 07:34:33 +0000 UTC View Post

Apollo 14: A Relook

Hello, Patrons! This isn't what you were expecting, I know. Since I am still waiting on Shuttle footage to come in, I thought this month I might provide you with something a bit different. Let's go back to January 14, 2020 -- and explore some of the footage I used in my Apollo 14 video. Except, let us now apply some of the digital tricks and tools I now have in my arsenal to clean up some of that footage.

This month, I have a YouTube video that looks at a couple "before-after" cases of ...

September Progress

Hello Patrons, here is what I can share for the month of September:

I have secured a footage sourcing deal to acquire 4K scans of STS-41B EVA activity (16mm). I don't have a specific timetable on that but I believe it should arrive in October.

I have done lots of sorting through mission audio and TV, upscaling what works well, and sorting for editing. Some of this material is now available for Patrons, link provided!

I found some pretty good STS-51A onboard film,...

Countdown to next release: Sources

Patrons! I have spent the summer reading, reading, reading! Bruce McCandless' book, Robert Crippen's book, a whole myriad of technical documentation and mission reports, transcripts, etc. This is the first of three posts that will precede the launch of our next film. The above are the main sources I am using to write the narrative script. Following this will be a compendium of raw footage/film, and lastly -- the script itself. Finally, as usual, an early release viewing link.

Ti...