Launching Beowulf Retold

It took me over 2 years to finally launch my retelling of Beowulf, Beowulf Retold onto DVD. Before that there were years of writing and developing the story itself and how it would be told. Then it was a matter of finding schools that would let me in their doors to experiment with their students in high schools and see how it was received.. Though I asked for written responses by email from teachers and students I seldom got  them. In fact only a couple teachers took the time. Oh I understand the teachers completely. They have so much to do and so little time to do it and they give up so much time during the school year that stopping to give me 30 minutes of their time to write a short review was asking a lot. So to those that did respond, thanks. The students are a whole different kind of animal and in all serious I felt lucky to get a verbal response acknowledging the program which I did get quite often. Every response I got from the students was very positive, this of course was encouraging.
  As I said this was a long drawn out process covering a period of at least 7 years from when I first finished writing part 1 to the present. Parts 2 and 3 took another 3 years to write mostly because I did not know if my approach to Beowulf, that is my storytelling approach, would work. Once I was convinced that my concept was worth more effort I spent a couple years off and on (more off than on) trying to write parts 2 and 3. Part 3 was by far the hardest part to close out.
    It was my wife, Paula,  who first put the thought into my head of filming and streaming Beowulf. That was before I figured out how much it would cost me to try and stream a program on a paid for basis. For now and probably for a while it will only be available on DVD. I am to small and the program so limited in those that my use it that it could not justify the expense to me of streaming it on a pay for basis. Still I would love to be able to do that.
  Money is hard to come by for schools in Texas these days especially for special programs like mine.Not every one can afford to put out a large chunk of cash to pay for such a special program  with limited audience as Beowulf Retold. My wife 's idea,  who works for the BISD in Haltom City, sounded like a good idea in the economic situation that we are all gripped in today. When you compare $20 to $400 or more then there is no comparison especially if the Video is worth the $20.
  When My wife had infected my brain with this idea I began to maul it around and chew on it before I started looking around. I did a lot of research first into streaming and found it to be quite an expensive venture but still the idea of doing the DVD hung in their. My passion for Beowulf was so strong and I knew that the need for students to be exposed to such a program as mine had long ranging affects that I just had to pursue this.
  Eventually I was lead to Brian Hobb's who is brother in law to my son in law. My son in law , Walter Hardeman, who is a computer wiz himself  showed me some of Brian's work on line. It was quite impressive. I contact Brian and we met and talked. Eventually I hired him to do the video. though Brian lacked the experience that I could  had really used to push this program into a slightly higher level, he was very professional in how he handled the filming process and specially the editing. We learned about the filming as we went along. In the long run the audio became our biggest issue. We did a total of 5 sessions. but we only had two camera. So we did multiple performances with the camera in different locations on each session. Which meant he had to edit together multiple recordings and make them all seem as one.We spent about 3 months off and on doing the recording sessions  and all of them were grueling for me especially since I was sick quite a bit during that time slot. Then after we had finally finished the filming he disappeared and went to work on editing all of the videos together armed only with the original script to put it all together as it should be.  It had to be a daunting mess. How he did what he did I know not but he did an absolutely awesome job of editing the video.
      In the end I had a video of my entire retelling of Beowulf which last a total of 1hour and 13 minutes. Due mostly to the fantastic job that Brian did of editing the footage together, you get a very personal and upfront seat to the program. Whether you view it at home or in school, on the computer or on the TV you will get an opportunity to listen to this story in a way that you would had never imagined. Up close and personal with a master storyteller bringing an ancient tale to life. Believe me $20 is a steal and that is exactly what I wanted it to be. I wanted it to be available and affordable. I may eventually set up to sell the DVD's from Amazon but for now I will only be selling them from my website or at my gigs.
  If you buy my DVD please email  me and let me know what you think of it or say so on facebook. My email is storytmantales@hotmail.com and on facebook I am listed as Gary Whitaker The Storyman. Please come and join my facebook entertainers page. All students and teachers are welcome at my entertainers site and of course people who just like storytelling. I post most of my upcoming gigs on that site and any news as it develops.
  I also want to thank my new Web Master, James Fell, who did an excellent job of posting all my newest updates after taking over a very old system. I know that was a challenge James and I do appreciate it.
  One of my hopes or desires is to make more professional style videos just for the website. To post them on Vimeo (Vimeo allows longer video's to be posted and watched which would mean I could post a 20 minute story for viewing) and link them to my website just like youtube. These video's would be free for all to watch and would encompass a variety of storytelling.  Stories from my Texas Ranger Program, Civil War Veteran Program, Tall Tales, Texas Tales , Scottish and Irish tales and especially ghost tales. Some of the stories that I really love are not what you would call good school material, such as the tale of the Nibelungenlied or the the true tale of the Battle of Maldon. But all of this cost me money and time and the only way I can make that  happen is through sales of my DVD and CD's.
    I would not recommend this specific DVD for children. If you would like a live performance for an elementary audience I can tell a much more toned down version in that kind of circumstance.
  So get the word out. If you like Beowulf  I can almost guarantee that you will like some of my other programs. Tell your teachers, tell your librarians (send them my website:  www.storymantales.com)  whether at the public library or at school. Tell them the Storyman is out there and he is ready to bring stories to life. The only way a storyteller can expand his audience base is by word of mouth from person to person. Most teachers, librarians and other specialist will not hire a performer willy nilly unless they have heard good things about them and especially from friends. So help. Pass me on.

Best Wishes to All
Gary Whitaker
aka The Storyman