Short of the Week

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Documentary Rod Blackhurst & Dave Targan

Early Innings

A brief documentary that looks at the story of the Burlington Bees, the Low-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals, from a variety of perspectives.

Play
Documentary Rod Blackhurst & Dave Targan

Early Innings

A brief documentary that looks at the story of the Burlington Bees, the Low-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's Kansas City Royals, from a variety of perspectives.

Early Innings

Directed By Rod Blackhurst & Dave Targan
Made In USA

The sharp eyes over on the Vimeo Staff picked this one up yesterday afternoon, and what a find! Short documentary work at its finest, Early Innings is a brisk moving and extremely well-done 10 min piece.

I know for many of you filmmakers and cineastes, sports is anathema to your tastes, however you don’t have to care about baseball to appreciate what David Targan and Cinematographer/Editor Rod Blackhurst have achieved here. Ultimately this is a document of Americana, showing what a baseball team can be and mean to the sleepy towns of the USA.

Frankly, I’m blown away by the craft of the piece, especially the edit. There are a lot of interviews here, and a ton of perspectives and stories are featured and hinted at in the brief runtime. The edit is seamless and shifts tones and perspectives fluently, making good use of music—all of which simply cement the quality of the film on top of its good-looking visuals.

Check out more of Rod Blackhurst’s work at his lovely website.