The Schwenkers: "Beyond Belief", Burning Man 2003 Trailer

FROM THE DIRECTOR'S NOTEBOOK:

In 2003, The Schwenkers made the trek of a lifetime, or so it seemed at the time. They "passed" on The 1993 Phildadelphia Folk Festival and opted, instead, to make the 5,400-mile trip (that's 2700 miles out, 2700 back) to The Burning Man Festival 2003, on the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The event has become known simply as "BM2K3". The subsequent VHS video and 3-DVD set versions are officially entitled "The Schwenkers in BEYOND BELIEF - BM2K3". Hence, why we call it "BM2K3".

This Theatrical Trailer was produced in the fall of 2003, following The Schwenkers' return from the Nevada desert. Knowing that it would be Spring or Summer of 2004 before the entire 5-plus hours of raw digital video would be edited down to a reasonable running time, the director made a rather easy decision to put together a "coming attraction", a theatrical trailer, for the epic journey. The boys could not wait for 6 months or so for a look.

So as not to shoot my wad too quickly (not that there's anything wrong with that), I did not want to include actual video clips as part of the trailer. Instead, I used frame-grabs, which helped wet one's whistle for the final video, which would not come until April 2004. Appearing in the trailer, as in the film itself, are Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, Susan Sarandon, and The Monty Python and The Holy Grail crew. Don't ask - watch the trailer.

The trailer was finished during the October-November 2003 timeframe, and copies were distributed. The buzz was electric....

The music choices are rather obvious: "Born To Be Wind", by Steppenwolf is the signature tune to "Easy Rider". Since our road trip was not unlike that in "Easy Rider" or "Thelma and Louise", music from each plays a prominent part of the soundtrack. The main theme music from Philip Kaufman's 1985 film "The Right Stuff" was composed by Bill Conti, whose first film score of notice was for "Rocky". A tough score to top, but Conti succeeded with "The Right Stuff". That the music begins when we see The Schwenkers for the first time is no accident - An epic journey needs an epic score.

That "The Right Stuff" is used for the soundtrack of the trailer and the end credits to the movie is, likewise, no accident: The original 7 Mercury astronauts - John Glenn, Alan Shepard, and the rest - paved the way for Buzz Aldrin to pilot the Eagle to its landing site on the moon on July 20, 1969. That the astronauts were living heroes to the director was the inspiration for "The Chapel of Buzz", erected on the Playa by The Schwenkers to pay tribute to Buzz. The BM2K3 theme "Beyond Belief" also was a factor. Buzz is later featured in the segment entitled, simply, "Buzz".

Trip of a lifetime? It seemed so in 2003, and it still seems so in 2007.

ENJOY!

Category:

Travel & Events

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