National Geographic looking for Joplin Tornado footage

(The following letter from National Geographic was shared by the City of Joplin)

Emmy award-winning documentary production team is looking for amateur footage to be used in an upcoming special about the 2011 Joplin tornado.

Unlike traditional documentaries, Witness: Joplin will be constructed entirely from original video and audio sources. The goal is to create a lasting historical document, to help communicate what it was like to live through the storm, and to shed light on the emotions that arose from its aftermath.



The production team is gathering video and audio archive (professional and amateur) recorded between May 22nd and May 27th, 2011. If you have material to share, or simply want to learn more about this project, please contact Sarah at sarahpagura@gmail.com or 773-936-7067.





In addition, the following was excerpted from one of the producer’s emails explaining the project. I would greatly appreciate you contacting them for any questions, etc. about this project. Thank you.



I’m a documentary producer for Siskel/Jacobs Productions in Chicago. We are currently producing a documentary about the 2011 Joplin tornado, which will be featured on National Geographic Channel in early 2011. I’m writing today to kindly request your help in locating archive material to be use in this program (tentatively titled Witness: Joplin).

As a bit of background, Siskel/Jacobs Productions has recently produced a variety of programming under the "Witness" banner. These programs use a mix of raw news footage, radio broadcasts, and user-generated video to stitch together a unique and thoughtful account of whatever subject matter we are profiling. Some examples include the Emmy award-winning documentary "102 Minutes That Changed America" -- which reconstructed the events of 9/11 in New York City, using only sound and video from that morning, the Emmy award-winning “Witness: Hurricane Katrina”, “Witness: 9/11 DC” and most recently, the highly rated – “Witness: Disaster in Japan”. We hope to use a similar format for our special on Joplin

Generally speaking, we are hoping to secure for the following types of material:

- Traditional b-roll and raw footage shot by local news crews and videographers

-Rescue crew radio transmissions and video footage

-911 calls

-Surveillance camera footage

-Amateur videos shot by first responders and local residents

-Cell phone footage

-Podcasts

-Webcams

Our greatest challenge is making sure the good people of Joplin are aware of our efforts. If you are willing, I’d greatly appreciate if you could help us spread the word about our project. I’ve attached a brief description of the project. Please feel free to pass along this email and description to anyone in your community that was touched by the tornado. If anyone has material to share, or suggestions for additional research avenues to pursue, I welcome their calls and input.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I can be reached directly at 773-936-7067, or by e-mail at sarah@siskeljacobs.com.

Best,

Sarah Pagura