A short word with the executive producer
My name is Charles Duoto, and I’m an instructional assistant and graduate student at the Texas State University School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Joseph Duoto is my 69-year-old father. Joseph is a lifelong teacher and adventurer. Despite his age, my father refuses to stop hiking and travelling. I’ve been an aspiring filmmaker and documentarian since I was very young. When I learned of my father’s intent to travel to Nepal, I knew that I had to find a way to be part of it somehow. Because I’m so involved with learning and teaching at the university, obviously, I couldn’t travel with him to participate in the recording process.
Originally, my goal was to make a short documentary featuring the footage he took. Because of the remote nature of the Himalayas, and the lack of a supporting crew, a full-sized camcorder would be too heavy to carry every day. I wanted to make this project as easy as I could for him. All I wanted for him to do is point a camera straight at the action. That’s why I sent my father with nothing more than a set of iVUE Horizon Pro 1080p video glasses, and an LG G4 smartphone. These cameras are small, but they pack a serious punch.
To be honest, we didn’t have a precise plan of action when we made this project. We knew we wanted to do a documentary-style video series of some sort. There was no story boarding or pre-production planning. However, I was fortunate enough that my father’s footage was spot on, with powerful scenes of both towering mountains, and devastating loss. This harrowing emotion allowed me to create this documentary-styled multimedia project.
I’d like to stress, that yes, this whole multimedia project was my idea, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t my journey to take. This is my father’s journey. This is his story. This is his adventure in a foreign land. Everything about this series comes directly from his eyes, from his point of view.
