University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2015 Wise the Wizard: A Feature Documentary about the Late Harry Wise of Sanford, Florida Daisy Blakelock University of Central Florida Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Masters Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STARS Citation Blakelock, Daisy, "Wise the Wizard: A Feature Documentary about the Late Harry Wise of Sanford, Florida" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1445. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1445 WISE THE WIZARD: A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE LATE HARRY WISE OF SANFORD, FLORIDA by DAISY SARA BLAKELOCK B.F.A. Wright State University, 2007 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in the School of Visual Arts at the University of Central Florida Orlando, Florida Fall Term 2015 © 2015 Daisy S. Blakelock ii ABSTRACT Wise the Wizard is a feature-length documentary by Daisy Sara Blakelock, made as part of the requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema from the University of Central Florida. The film focuses on the late Harry Wise, a magician from Sanford, Florida, as remembered by the people who knew him best. Interview subjects include the following: author and TV Producer Charlie Carlson, who wrote a biography about Harry Wise entitled A Wizard’s Tux and Tales (Luthers Press, New Smyrna Beach: 2004); Brendan and Anna McWilliams, who accompanied Harry on countless adventures throughout Sanford and the surrounding areas; Art Litka, who dedicated a portion of his Halloween Village to Harry Wise; filmmaker and magician Gary Lester, who studied magic under Harry Wise and acquired and restored many of Harry’s former props; and Lynn Ashe, Harry Wise’s best friend. iii For my mom, for believing in me. For my dad, who taught me to believe in magic. iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This film would not have been possible without the many individuals who shared their memories and collections of Harry memorabilia with me and encouraged their friends and associates to do the same. I apologize in advance to anyone I may have overlooked, but thank you to the following individuals: Lynn Ashe, Charlie Carlson, Alicia Clarke, Gene Kruckemeyer, Richard and Gary Lester, Art Litka and Treena Kaye, Brendan and Anna McWilliams, Kim Nelson, and Kelly Williams. While having willing participants is an essential part of filmmaking, there are other key pieces, without which a film never gets past pre-production. Thank you to the people who believed in this project, and by extension believed in me. Thank you to Dr. Lisa Mills, for remaining a positive and steadfast force as my thesis adviser, and for helping me break down overwhelming tasks into much more manageable pieces. Thank you also to Steve Schlow, for having faith in me and for helping me sift through all of the psychic chatter and detritus in search of meaning. Finally, I must thank the “doers”—the people who assisted me materially and physically throughout the course of making this film. Thank you to my mother, who provided financial support and told me not to worry, that we would find a way to fund this film. Thank you to my DP, Ryan Retherford, who took time away from his family and donated his skill, knowledge, and equipment to the cause of translating my vision into a shared artistic reality. Thank you to Greg Gromak, whose company Deluge Productions donated equipment so that again, my vision could v become a shared artistic reality. Thank you to Michael Corrill, AKA “Mike TV,” whose bright and whimsical animation sequences breathed new life into the interview material and a way to transport viewers to Harry’s world. Finally, thank you to my husband, Gabriel Trainer, my rock who was willing to roll with whatever we needed on set, whether it was someone to run sound, move lights, or set up the craft services table. I feel so fortunate to have all of these individuals in my life, and I hope to work on many more projects with them in the future. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. v TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS/ACRONYMS/NOMENCLATURE ............................................ xiv CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Filmmaker’s Statement ............................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER TWO: PICTURE ....................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH MATERIALS........................................................................ 15 Independent Research ............................................................................................................... 15 Treatment .............................................................................................................................. 15 Transcripts............................................................................................................................. 17 CHAPTER FOUR: MARKETING PLAN ................................................................................. 317 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 317 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 317 Key Personnel ..................................................................................................................... 318 vii Product Description ............................................................................................................ 319 Industry Overview .............................................................................................................. 320 Market Analysis and Strategy ............................................................................................. 320 Motion Picture Distribution ................................................................................................ 320 Marketing and Distribution Plan ............................................................................................. 321 Festivals .............................................................................................................................. 321 Streaming and Digital Download ........................................................................................ 322 Break-Even Point ................................................................................................................ 323 APPENDIX A: ORIGINAL BUSINESS PLAN ........................................................................ 326 Information and Risk Statement ............................................................................................. 327 For Information Purposes Only .......................................................................................... 327 Statement of Risk ................................................................................................................ 328 Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ 330 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 330 Management ........................................................................................................................ 330 Product Description ............................................................................................................ 331 Industry Overview .............................................................................................................. 331 Market Analysis & Strategy ................................................................................................ 331 Motion Picture Distribution ................................................................................................ 332 viii Financial Information.......................................................................................................... 332 Company Description ......................................................................................................... 334 Product Description ............................................................................................................ 337 Industry Analysis ...................................................................................................................