THAT'S A WRAP!

I'm happy to announce that after over two and a half years of planning,  production, and post production, the documentary is DONE!  It has been quite a ride, and has taught me so much along the way.

As I sit here and reflect back on the process, I really had no idea of what I was getting into.  Much like building a house, it is an emotional process of documenting a multi-year story.  There are peaks and valleys of emotion and energy.  I started off excited, shooting continuously and gathering content for the story that I had to tell.  The problem, I didn't really know what the story was?  I had ideas, and notions of what I would talk about, but no clear path through the process.  It was daunting.  

But by a stroke of luck, a good friend and video colleague of mine, Chase Stanton and I were talking about the project one day.  He said, "Why don't you release it in segments?"  Genius!  And that's where this website came from.  It gave me the motivation to release a new segment each month and show people the steps to creating a custom dream home.  Until it didn't . . . 

I got to a point in the process where I realized that everything was the same.  The footage and "story" of putting on the roof panels one day felt the same as hoisting the massive pool on a 40 foot crane the next.  My video was droning on and on.  I stepped away.  I realized that I was getting burned out in the process, and needed the house to be built while I re-energized myself on the project. 

Thankfully, my father-in-law David shot time-lapse footage every day.  I would come to the build site on important milestone days to document footage, but I ended up not using much of it.  One thing I learned from the process is to GET OVER YOURSELF!  Just because you went, shot hours of amazing footage in the freezing cold doesn't mean you need it or have to use it in the final edit.  I've been telling my high school video students this for years, but it became very evident here in this project.  

The break that I took from creating segments gave me two things: time for the house to develop, and time for me to get over the footage I wasn't going to use.  A year later, with a thousand times the content I needed to finish the project, I sat back down to make sense of what I had to work with.  Finding the story was the key, and it wasn't long until I knew how to wrap the project you see here today.  

I'd like to thank the many people who helped along the way.  My wife Meagan, who listened to me drone on and on about the project and guided me when I was just in too deep to see what was needed to see. David and Alisande, for allowing me unprecedented access to their lives and the chance to document this historic time in our family's history.  My son Cooper, who for a 12 year old is very good at making suggestions to improve an edit. Mike Mahon and Michael Klement, for designing and building this amazing house.  And to the HUNDREDS of construction workers for allowing me to follow you around with a camera while watching you do your job.  These are true craftsman and I have a greater appreciation for why they call it the "Skilled Trades."

I set out in this process to create a story for a target audience of my family.  I hope others will find it an interesting story and share it with others who might be interested in going on their own journey of a custom home.

​Thank you for sharing the process with me.  Enjoy the show.