ArrowCorps Documentary in the Works

10 November 2008

Posted by admin under: media; public relations .

Monte Mitchell writing for the Winston-Salem Journal says that there will be an official documentary about the Boy Scouts of America’s Order of the Arrow service project named ArrowCorps5 that happened this past summer and that an Eagle Scout will be making it.

When Robert Mason is in the library at Appalachian State University, he might be studying for class or he might be sorting through 80,000 digital photos and 100 hours of video compiled during a Boy Scout-related project that he hopes will leave a legacy for the future.

Mason, 20, an Eagle Scout and a junior double major in political science and history, is working on a book and assisting on a U.S. Forest Service documentary about ArrowCorps5, a large service project to improve five Forest Service sites this past summer.
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A year ago, when planning was under way for the Order of the Arrow service project, Mason developed a proposal to document the summer. Once national leaders approved his documentation project, he spent three weekends doing practice runs, working out logistics of getting gear from place to place, practicing photography and interview skills.

Just before the project started, he met documentarian Ken Burns, who is well known for his public-television productions, at an event in Charlotte and asked him for advice.

“He was saying in my efforts to make sure I’m committed and above all having fun, then you’ll know you’re doing good documentation,” Mason said. “You have to have your heart in it.”
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In addition to the book and documentary, Mason is working on an exhibit that will be seen by an expected 8,000 people at the 2009 national conference of the Order of the Arrow. He’ll also prepare an exhibit for the National Jamboree in 2010 when about 40,000 Scouts are expected as they celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

Robert kept a blog of his adventures during ArrowCorps. Click over to his blog here to see raw footage and pictures that I’m sure will be making it into the final documentary. Ken Burns. Wow. You can’t get better advice than that.