This past weekend, Spokeswoman Productions was invited to speak and show our trailer at the pre-celebration of the DC Jewish Environmental Bike Ride, sponsored by Hazon. The event was at a retreat center

After a long drive up the NJ turnpike and a few Fresh Air podcasts, Team Londonderry traveled to Verona, NJ to reunite with old friends and reenact 1894. Gary (Cpt of the NJ Wheelmen and Back in Bloomers veteran) and Elaine Sanderson hosted Team Londonderry (Meghan, Mike, and Gillian) at their home in Verona on our very busy, cold, but wildy successful shooting weekend. We added a new member to the Team, Kitama Jackson from NYC, who acted as our PA/Grip on the shoot. He did a fantastic job and we were very lucky to have worked with him.

Team Londonderry: Meg, Mike, Gilian, Kitama

The goal was to film short moments on Annie’s ride, while also filming as much scenic b-roll as possible. Because of Meghan’s mass of curls (and also for her pluck!), she was elected to star as **Annie** during the weekend’s shoot. This meant donning lace-up boots, bloomers, and other Victorian garb, and braving the cold winds of this chilly April weekend!

Meghan pulling on the new boots; Annie savoring a warm moment in the car

Gary is an antique cycling enthusiast and he has an impressive collection of 200 bikes, including versions from all “generations,” like the early French velocopides, to the elegant-looking high wheels, to the safeties. He has 4-person tandems, male and female hand-powered tricycles, baby bicycles, and even antique bikes for the disabled.Gary was generous enough to let us borrow his bikes for our shoot, and patient enough to accompany us on both of the very long shooting days, as both an “actor” and sometimes as an ancillary director.

Re-creating the look of Annie is no easy task, but we got very lucky because Elaine, Gary’s wife, happened to have a navy riding suit, consisting of a period blazer and long, heavy skirt, as well as matching bloomers. This allowed us to show Annie both before and after her trasnformation into “The New Woman.”

On Saturday we filmed “pre-Chicago Annie.” When Annie left Boston, she wore a women’s riding suit, with a long skirt that proved cumbersome to cycle in and far too hot for the summer. She also began her ride on a black Columbia bicycle that weighed about 47-pounds. Now, if you’re ever ridden a fixed-gear bike, you’ll know that it feels a little funny at first, particularly after being used to slick, light-weight road bikes with 20+ gears. It took Meghan a litle while to get the hang of riding this heavy bike in the long skirt, particulary on tough terrain like mud and damp grass. But capturing her struggle on film only made the reenactments better because these were exactly the issues that Annie had in the first few weeks of her ride.

Meghan affixing the “Londonderry” placard to the bike

When Annie reached Chicago, she was physically spent and likely would have thrown in the towel, had she not discovered bloomers and her 27 pound Sterling bike. On Day 2 of our shoot, Meghan switched from her long skirt to bloomers, and from the heavy Columbia safety bike to a much lighter men’s Sterling bike. (Ok….that’s a white lie. The bike we used wasn’t really a Sterling, and it’s also not really white… it’s amazing what a roll of hockey tape and a little creativity can do!) But, in true Annie fashion, Meghan’s warddrobe change from skirt to bloomers completely changed the ease with which she rode, and the lighter bike made it much easier for her to get around. This shoot gave us an even greater appreciation for Annie’s determination and endurance.

We spent Saturday in the Verona area, shooting both outdoors and in Gary’s basement. Sunday was spent in Frenchtown, NJ. and at Gary’s son’s farm in Flemington. The farm was a REAL farm, with an old red farm house, chickens, sheep, and even a llama! The property allowed us to get some very diverse shots, because of the stream, the stone walls, the 200+ year old barn, and a 300+ year old burned down tavern. We even came across a grove of bamboo…..Next stop- China?

By Meghan Shea

Wanted by cycling groups and academia alike, Annie was the topic of a lecture that I gave at GW University to the Women’s Leadership Group: Globalization, Economics, and Business.
Annie’s business prowess, accrual of international publicity, and her pulse on a newly globalizing world meant that she was an ideal candidate for this group to examine. The group of college freshmen was amazingly awake for an 8am class and asking questions about Annie, filmmaking more generally, and the final date of release of the film. I spoke at length with definite answers for about 2 of the 3 aforementioned categories. Release date, TBD.

For those of you who can’t wait for a more substantive blog entry about the Bike Ball, enjoy these pictures.

If you visit the Docs in Progress website and read their most recent blog entry… and you scroll down to the very bottom, you’ll see a shout-out to Spokeswoman Productions. The blog is about “How to Find Funding For Your Documentary,” and it’s very informative (and perhaps a bit daunting!) They mention our Back in Bloomers endeavor as a way to think creatively when fundraising for documentaries. Thanks ladies!

If you’re in the DC-area, we highly recommend that you check out the next Docs in Progress Workshop. It’s on January 30, 2007 at 7 pm, at The Jack Morton Auditorium, in the Media and Public Affairs Building at George Washington University (805 21st Street, NW Washington DC).

The featured films will be:

REDEMPTION STONE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF TOM LEWIS by Tom Dziedzic (28 minutes)
From growing up dirt-poor in a small Southern town to working the mean streets of Washington DC, Tom Lewis had left no stone unturned looking for redemption. He eventually finds it “fishing in the rivers of the mind.”

STILL CALLING by Steven Holloway (16 minutes)
In an accelerated mass media age, is it still possible to stop and reflect deeply about the world? Artists in a variety of disciplines share how they have found meaning in their creations. This visual meditation considers the questions, “What is beauty? What is faith? What is art?”

Designed by resident artist Meghan Shea

(Click on the poster to make it bigger)

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