How Do You Film the Revolution?

"Filming the eclipse would be technically complicated, and if we were hampered by clouds or anything else-if we failed to get the shot-there could be no second take. (The next such eclipse in the United States will occur in 2044.) Our crew headed north from New York City, armed with four cameras. Three would be pointed at the sky and the fourth at the sun's reflection on water."

"Challenging though it was, filming the eclipse was in one sense easy: We knew when and where it was going to happen, and we knew the effect would be powerful. Endeavoring to make a 12-hour documentary on a subject that predates the invention of photography, and whose sources are written in an 18th-century vernacular, was in other respects a daunting mission."

On June 24, 1778 a total solar eclipse crossed much of North America, from the Pacific Coast of Mexico to Virginia's Eastern Shore, coinciding with the Battle of Monmouth and the British retreat from Philadelphia to New York City. A total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 provided an opportunity to recreate that phenomenon. Filming required exact timing, rapid exposure changes, and acceptance that cloud cover could eliminate any second chance. A crew traveled from New York with four cameras—three aimed at the sky and one at the sun's reflection on water—and moved to the Adirondacks after forecasts shifted. The effort produced striking footage, while documentary work on the Revolutionary era remained more difficult than for later conflicts due to the absence of photography and living witnesses.

Read at The Atlantic