Production Of NPS Documentary Completed

“The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” the six-episode, twelve-hour documentary being produced by Florentine Films, Ken Burns’ studio, has been completed. It was delivered to PBS in March. The initial episode is scheduled for airing on PBS on September 27th.

Paring back the documentary to twelve hours was a challenge. Florentine Films shot 800 rolls of film (60 miles in length, 150 hours worth), conducted 50 interviews, and amassed 11,800 archival images, of which they used 1800. The editing phase was completed last June and the film went to Goldcrest Studios and Sound One in New York City for technical work – color correction, mixing of the music tracks, addition of sound effects, and related finishing touches. It will also be translated into Spanish.

A companion book has been written by co-producer Dayton Duncan which follows the documentary’s narrative and adds details. It will be published by the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group in early September.

The DVD of the documentary will include the usual “behind the scenes” footage on how the documentary was made, a timeline showing the establishment of each national park, including images and music, nine deleted scenes, three music videos, and some other extras.

The filmmakers are also making a number of “mini-docs” that will be sent to parks later this year. They are from six to twelve minutes long and cover an array of topics:

“City Kids in National Parks” explores National Park Service efforts to bring inner city kids into the parks, often for their first encounters with wilderness. The film tells the story through the lens of two programs – Biscayne National Park’s successful, well-established program working with fifth-graders from the greater Miami area and Death Valley National Park’s new program working with seventh grade students from Las Vegas. The mini-doc focuses on the kids themselves – what they’re learning about the earth, about teamwork, and about themselves.

“Manzanar – ‘Never Again’” looks at the interconnected stories of Japanese internment during World War II, Sue Kunitomi Embrey’s efforts to commemorate Manzanar internment camp, and the ongoing work of Manzanar National Historic Site to educate visitors about civil rights. At the heart of the of the film is the site’s annual pilgrimage and the words of Sue Embrey, who speaks movingly about protecting all citizens’ rights, especially in times of national crisis.

“Mount Rushmore: Telling America’s Stories” focuses on the new interpretive program at Mount Rushmore National Memorial, spearheaded by superintendent Gerard Baker. In addition to telling the traditional stories of the carving of the mountain and of the four presidents memorialized there, the program now highlights the stories and cultures of all Americans, including American Indians, imparting a more complex and complete understanding of the National Parks and the legacies they protect.

“San Antonio Missions: Keeping History Alive” centers on San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. A thriving hub for the city’s Latino community, the park hosts Spanish and English language masses throughout the week, celebrates traditional Hispanic festivals year-round, and educates more than 50,000 school children annually about our nation’s Hispanic heritage.

“Yosemite’s Buffalo Soldiers” highlights the work of Yosemite ranger Shelton Johnson and his rediscovery of the story of the African American soldiers who patrolled the parks of the High Sierra at the turn of the last century. Shelton tells the story in the dramatis personae of a Buffalo Soldier himself, directly engaging visitors in a way that is immediate and often high impact.

A web site on the documentary has been launched. Click on “More Information” to get there.