These Legs Need to Journey

Pen and Key

The quiet suggests a slight hint of echo within my ears. They too…like all of self are searching, my mind races towards an endless sea of pages, facing not upwards but viewed from their edges. Within the constant turning only the blur of ideas. No story…no pictures…only endless notes posted haphazard to a mind board…these legs need to journey.

My eyes stumble time and time again…is this just more of the same? This observer of history’s reminders and remainders is stymied. Our constant companion the menace of the time lurks…no menace wanted here…and so the pages of my virtual book of ideas continue to flip. Surge no surge. Nothing anchors within…only the drag of a chain and flukes seeking a foundation.

I have watched Ted Talks (Andrew Stanton) about clues to a great story, chosen to watch John Carter (2012) and channeled Edgar Rice Burroughs; The 39 Steps (1935) but these are not the steps I seek; V for Vendetta (2005) – a menace here too…interesting but no path for my musings;…The Red Baron (2008) soaring but wanting; and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), intriguing but mostly in its brief treatment of the Blitz.

I come to realize that my usual treasury of resources is not delivering…film, sound and soundtrack, the words of others…all require my own journeys to find connection, similar and dissimilar…joys of discovery. These legs need to journey…finding the places and things that bring all together…when resources are easier at hand and the pen and key become willing partners again. Still have I missed something…I still haven’t found what I am looking for and yet here I am…


About The Author

pferguson
Paul has worked with the Paradigm Motion Picture Company since 2009 as producer, historian and research specialist. Paul first met Casey and Ian WIlliams of Paradigm in April 2007 at Ieper (Ypres), Belgium when ceremonies were being held for the re-dedication of the Vimy Memorial, France. Paul's sensitivity to film was developed at an early age seeing his first films at RCAF Zweibrucken, Germany and in Sardinia. Paul returned to Canada in 1967 and was further amazed by David Lean's "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge on the River Kwai". Film captivated Paul and with time he became increasingly interested in storytelling, content development, character, direction, cinematography and soundtracks. At the University of Victoria, Paul studied and compared Japanese and Australian film and became interested in Australian film maker Peter Weir and his film "Gallipoli" (1981). Paul was entranced when he learned Weir had visited the beaches, ridges and ravines of the peninsula. The film "Gallipoli" alone led Paul on many journeys to sites of conflict in England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Malta, Hawaii, Gallipoli and Salonika. It was, however, when Paul watched documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, "The Civil War", that Paul understood how his own experience and insight could be effective and perhaps influential in film-making. Combining his knowledge of Museums and Archives, exhibitions and idea strategies with his film interests would be a natural progression. Paul thinks like a film-maker. His passion for history and storytelling brings to Paradigm an eye (and ear) to the keen and sensitive interests of; content development, the understanding of successful and relational use of collections, imagery and voice. Like Paul's favorite actor, Peter O'Toole, he believes in the adage “To deepen not broaden.” While on this path Paul always remembers his grandmother whose father did not return from the Great War and how his loss shaped her life and how her experience continues to guide him.

Comments

Leave a Reply