Last week, we assembled our Murdered on the Fourth of July team–director/producer Pj Perez, co-producer Roudi Boroumand and cinematographer Winston Moon–in Las Vegas for a whirlwind three days of filming, with the aid of sound mixer Ty Peterson and production assistant Mario Martin.
We crisscrossed the Las Vegas Valley to film interviews with five subjects over two days as well as a day’s worth of B-roll (the additional footage that goes over and in-between talking heads, like exteriors of locations).
Of course, as this filming trip was planned in advance, we had no way of knowing that we’d be filming across from UNLV only days after a tragic mass shooting that took the lives of three faculty members. Although completely unrelated to our subject matter, it was hard to ignore the shared senselessness of the violence and murders in both situations.
But despite that–and some last-minute scheduling challenges that just come with the territory of documentary (guerilla) filmmaking–we had a productive three days of production that produced some terrific material that will get Murdered on the Fourth of July ever closer to completion. And it was all made possible by financial contributions from our generous Seed&Spark crowdfunding backers, for whom we are grateful.
After a pause for the holiday season, we’ll resume production in the new year. If you have the means and are interested in helping to ensure we’re able to stay on schedule and see this project through to completion, please consider making a donation to the film – there’s still time to do so before the end of 2023 and potentially enjoy a tax deduction (for those of you in the United States), as all donations go through our nonprofit fiscal sponsor, the International Documentary Association.
On behalf of the Murdered on the Fourth of July team, we wish you a safe, healthy and happy holiday season and start to the new year.