Hi all.
10 years ago, I was very busy with a project that was to be one of the most exciting experiences of my life. I had, at that point, been involved in DT matters by being an active moderator on the DT.net irc-channel since SFAM came out (I remember talking to Mike on the irc channel about the album weeks before its release) - and because of this a few years later I became a core member of the norwegian DT fan club (right around the time SDOIT came out).
In 2004, Mike Portnoy more or less announced the end of the fan club cd program he had started in 1996. So the fan clubs were scrambling for ideas. I brought up the idea of making a special DVD with backstage tours, concert footage and interviews, along with shots with fans and other stuff. 4 other fan clubs agreed, and since it was my idea, I took on the project as a project leader. In July 2005, we sent the proposal for the project to Mike, and 16th of July we received feedback that "I think it's a great idea and I'm gung-ho!" - and we were off planning. We were five clubs, and we were planning to make five segments focusing on one city each. Interview with a band member, venue setup, fan interviews and fan club events, along with an excerpt of a song. We were given permission to bring one camcorder. I asked if it was okay to bring two, and luckily they agreed.
Oslo was first up, so I brought with me a kid with media interest and an okay camera. We filmed at the DTNorway pre-party (which is something we've done for all headlining shows in norway to date), filmed around Oslo, and filmed the setup of the stage in the venue itself. Then we were invited backstage, where the production manager at that time took us on a guided tour in the dressing rooms. Then we were placed in John Petrucci's dressing room, and we made the first interview happen. Unfortunately, due to a major blunder by us, the audio for this interview was pretty bad - it was thin and hard to hear. We tried to salvage it as much as we could.
We were invited to dinner afterwards, and the whole experience was just surreal. Here I was, eating with the band and crew... Did I mention this was the first time I'd met -any- of them?
Then came time to do the show. I was unsure as to where to place the cameras. I placed one by the soundboard, which was hooked directly into the audio feed from the soundboard. This gave me a good shot of the entire stage.
Then i place myself with a zoom a bit up in the seated area. I shouldn't have done that, and I regret it to do this day; I should've gone down into the pit before the stage. Unfortunately, there was a security guard that wasn't informed that I was actually allowed to stay there. He tried to remove me just as the song started. I shouted at him to call his boss, cause he was screwing up my shot! I pointed at my "working crew" pass that they'd given me that day, and told him to call his boss (which I had just talked to a bit before, and who was informed about what to do). He scurried away, and I didn't see him again.
I managed to film the entire Panic Attack with the two cameras, but the quality for the video wasn't good. I was so unhappy. Two mistakes - audio was screwed up in the interview, and video was screwed up in the song. But, I thought, maybe this will be the charm of this project. This is, after all, a fan made tour documentary, bootleg style.
I brought my experience on to the rest of the team, so they could prepare for how to handle the shows. And the further into the project we got, the more professional and well shot the stuff was. We ended up with some killer footage, with one of the shows we shot later being released as the official DSOTM dvd, and the other was released the following year as the second fan club DVD.
The project was nearing completion with editing and all that stuff in december of 2005. I'd insisted that every city have its own editorial supervision over their segment, but I'd be the project director.
I also made the cover art for the project, with photos from the different concerts that year. I decided to keep the cover in a CD tray style, to fit the fan club collection. I also made another version which I made available online for people to print themselves:
I sent it for approval to Mike, and he thought it looked great, and approved the DVD and the artwork. I organized with a print shop to have them print the DVD and the artwork, paid the cost out of pocket. I organized with the copyright institution to get the correct rights for actually producing the DVD with audio. We paid this cost out of pocket. This was $12500 we had to pay, half of which was copyright! Anyways, a few weeks later, a pallet with 5000 DVDs appeared on my doorstep! I repackaged, and sent these out to the other fanclubs. We started shipping the DVD out to members all over the world. 5000 copies. I'd been a part of a project that produced 5000 DVDs for Dream Theater. Insane. While I was writing my masters thesis no less.
Oh, and the german fan club had the idea to ask Jordan for some special songs that we could use in the interstitial segments. Jordan provided us with several clips, that we could use freely in the DVD menus and the movie.
I've dug up these clips, and edited them together to a 10 minute piece which you can listen to here:
https://soundcloud.com/dtnorway/walkbesidethebandDue to copyright, I can't link actual footage from the DVD here. There's a lot of it on youtube though...
Since it's now 10 years ago - I've decided to dig up 3 copies from my storage, and give them out here. Give me a damn good reason why I should give it to you - and you'll might just get lucky. No PM's though, keep it here!
Topic: Walk Beside The Band - 10 years ago (Read 4863 times)
