For more than a few years now I've been drawing up an idea for a ren documentary. I use digital video equipt. at work for multimedia projects and between Fred (MDRF's King Henry VIII) Nelson and myself, we have enough video editing equipment and experience to start our own production house! I'd ask m'friend for help but he's always booked!

Of course this idea would be more a labour of love than of profit and the the footage therein would be limited to the RenFests that we go to. . namely MDRF, PARF, NYRF (tux), and the Fairy Festival in PA. The majority of the pices, of course, would be of MDRF (home faire).

I'd include NJRF or VARF but they really don't have permanent sites yet.

My overview of the documentary would start with a basic "what is faire" and what folks can expect at the faire (i.e. the mundane public). Interviews would include folks who have come to the faire for the first time and those who frequent but haven't become playtrons. Also included would be some quick information about the time periods covered by most faires (Henry VIII, Elizabeth, Robin Hood, King Arthur). Perhaps a quick history of ren faires in the US would be in order and a shout out to Medieval Times™ (who, who knows might help fund such a documentary).

The next section would be that of the playtron (i.e. ME). . . those of us who pay to get in the gates but once inside, it would be tough to judge whether we worked there or not. . . asking of course the "whys" that all of us get asked on a daily basis.

Next would come of course those that work the faire and would be broken into three parts: 1)Actors & Entertainment 2) Vendors 3)Administrative. The first two are obvious, but the third would, I think, be interesting from a "how the hell do they pull this off" point of view. Things like hazard insurance and keeping things on schedule amaze me at this point as to how it all gets done.

As a wrap-up, there would be a "typical" day at the fair, with a walking tour of MDRF, taking in all the sites and sounds (too bad there's no smell technology yet). Ending with the pub sing at MDRF and the torch-lit parade to the gates, the credits would roll.

Annnnd. . . as this idea has been fleshed out so far, there would be greater detail as to folks who've made a profession out of Renfaires from clothing to cutting CDs of pyrate songs. . . and then the fandom of faires from sites on the web to this very newsgroup.

In short, I want to get it ALL.

What do ye think?