Final Pitch

The shift of our Johnnie Mercer’s Pier project has shifted as we have gotten deeper into our research and shooting. We are now working towards a poetic portrait of the pier. While our expert interview with pier manager Matt Johnson went very well, we would like to interview James Neal and probably use his interview as the basis for our film. Mr. Neal has been around Wrightsville Beach his whole life (since probably the 1950’s), and he now works at the pier shop. He is a wonderful storyteller and full of knowledge about the area. Because he is so interesting, we think hearing about the pier from his perspective would be the most interesting and would go along with our message. While the film will now have a poetic bend, we would still like to make it relatable to other victims of natural disasters, so we will be sure to focus on the pier’s destruction and reconstruction. In order to do this, we still need to interview James Neal. We also need to do research at the library and around Wilmington to find images of Johnnie Mercer’s Pier at all stages in its history. We would also like to have footage of some other hurricane damage to incorporate into our film at some point, to directly relate this disaster to other natural disasters that have occurred. Another element that we still need to work on is sound. Aside from James Neal’s voice, we need to figure out what other audio we would like to have in our film. We still have a lot of work to do, but I think we have a strong sense of direction now for the film.