In early September, the crew went on location with Internet hobo "Too Tall Ken" to shoot footage over Tennessee Pass in the Colorado Rockies. The footage will be edited into a 3-minute teaser of "Hobo Jungles" and will be available for viewing in mid-December. In addition to post-production of the trailer, Ms. George continues to recruit participants, raise funds, and scout locations by freight train.
"Hobo Jungles" will be filmed in four segments between April and September 1997. During each segment the crew will travel to a designated section of track: the Nevada desert in April, the California coast in May, Feather River Canyon in the Sierra Nevadas during July, and the Highline between Spokane, WA, and Havre, MT, in early September. Each segment will feature a different rider. Shooting MOS with 16mm color film and taking wild sound, the crew will document the adventure on the freights. Synch-sound interviews will be conducted in yards, beside the tracks, and in overnight campsites.
After capturing footage of each character out on the rails, the crew will document their lives off the tracks. Each segment of production will include additional interviews of relatives, employers, and friends. Using a non-linear video editing system for off-line editing, rough assemblages will be cut together subsequent to each segment of production. A rough cut will be ready by October 1997. Post-production processing, transfers, editing, sound design, negative cutting, and finishing will take place in Seattle, Washington.
Worthy Entertainment will provide a paid internship for an at-risk minority youth during production of "Hobo Jungles." Conceived as a pilot program, the production internship will be a structured introduction to filmmaking. In brief orientation sessions, a trained media instructor will teach basic skills and provide instructional materials. During one segment of production, the intern will learn the various elements of filmmaking: producing, directing, camera, lighting, and sound. The intern will be provided with a video camera to document the experience. Later, the intern will have the opportunity to edit the footage into a promotional video to encourage the implementation of similar internships within the production community in the Northwest. The internship program will impart knowledge of the filmmaking process, generate self-esteem, and provide at-risk students with a chance to succeed.